I Love Normandy in the Autumn

For many, autumn is a favourite time to visit Normandy.

Picture from www.myfrenchcountryhome.blogspot.com

The summer visitors have gone home, the prices go down and weather can be brilliant until the end of October. The bright light and clear blue skies of the long days of summer  soften into misty mornings and high drifting clouds.  The traditional local stone buildings almost seem to go into soft focus in autumn and the hedgerows fill up with sloes, wild rose hips, hawthorn fruits and delicious blackberries.

Orchards hang heavy with apples and pears, mushrooms appear in the fields and woodland and the cooler days can be perfect for long walks and cycle rides.

The patchwork of fields are a mix of ripe maize and sunflowers ‘gone over’ (still waiting to be harvested) and the dark brown earth  of ploughed fields which have been harrowed and sown with winter barley and oats

 The grass in the fields grows less quickly at this time of year and is of lesser quality than in the spring and summer – the horses and cattle that depend on it look hopefully to us to offer them a little extra in the way of grain or hay.

 There are also plenty of festivals and fairs in Normandy based on food and the ‘ terroir’  to tempt you to visit in October and November:

Mushroom Days (Journées Mycologiques) 

          Ferté Macé

           Bellême  

Apple and Cider fairs 

           Vimoutiers   You can also  See more on YouTube  

           Beuvron en Auge/Cabremer

          Le Sap   You can also  See more on YouTube   

Andouille ( sausage)  fair 

          Vire