Thanks for sharing yet another family outing! It is fun to revisit places I have been and to see some new ones. The kids seem to be growing fast!

I very much enjoyed your photos and report. It was nice to see places we have been to as a family as well, and of course places we still want to visit. Traveling with kids is so much fun. Our are older now, and still fun to travel with, but of course it changes from when they were young. Your report is making me want to plan yet another trip

I always enjoy your FFO's (Fun Family Outings)! Thanks for sharing your trip!

Thanks for sharing your trip report.
We will be in Normandy in September and hope to visit many of the sites you did.

We are also staying at the Chateau in Bayeux for 4 nights so am looking forward to our stay and have booked a dinner there also.

Pictures looked great and weather looked great too!

great set of photos,

Hi Indy_Dad,

Looks like a great trip. Your kids are about the age of my grandchildren –excellent age to tour and explore.

I recently took a tour of Normandy so we visited many of the same sites. You first pic of “Les Braves” monument on Omaha Beach was great. Glad you had good weather. When we were there in early June, the weather was ferocious. In fact, I only saw that monument from the bus.

Same weather at the cemetery but it was still moving. I did not walk out among the graves as far as I might have in better conditions.

One question – where did you park at MSM? I know that you cannot park on the causeway anymore.

Again, thanks for sharing your family’s adventures.

Thanks for the responses.

@latedaytraveler -- there is a big parking lot outside of town now for MSM. It's well signposted. You have to trek a bit into town to then catch the shuttle or walk some more across the causeway. They have a pay station near the restrooms near the parking lots to pay before you leave (8.50€ for any decent stay).

@aussie_10 -- we booked our dinners at Chateau de Damingy on the day. I'd suggest trying it early in your stay. You may find you want to do it more than once (as did we). You can't get a meal of that quality in town for that price.

More later . . .

Indy_Dad, thanks for the explanation. Just wondering since the parking situation has changed at MSM.

Really enjoy reading about your family travels…

Thanks for another fascinating trip report. I really think you are going native - not French native, but U.K. native, as this is the sort of holiday that many middle-class British families would identify with. It's a world away from the "how many famous places can we see in a short space of time" trips that appear so often on this site. You also drove your right-hand-drive car on the right-hand-side of the road, the idea of which scares some people witless.

I note that you had to wait at the Eurotunnel terminal because you arrived 2 hours early. My experience is that Eurotunnel will invariably offer you the next available shuttle, whatever the time of your booking. You can choose whether to go straight away, or spend some time in the terminal. Similarly, if you arrive late, they will offer you the next available shuttle. That does take away some of the pressure to arrive at Cheriton at exactly the right time. Then M25 and M20 are notoriously unreliable regarding congestion.

Thanks, Chartley.

As we drove down on the first Saturday of the summer holidays, the next available option wasn't available for us and we were told to stick to our assigned spot (full up apparently).

That said, seeing how it is done, we probably could have merged in perhaps 1 train (15 minutes) before since the boarding process was a little more "general" than I would have assumed.

We arrived so early precising for the unknown traffic issue. It was no problem, but better safe than sorry.

It's still not a proper British holiday because I only took 1 week. Everyone here seems to prefer the 2-week block. That's too much family closeness at one time for us.

Since you were travelling on the first Saturday of the school holidays, that would make the shuttle a lot busier. I understand that the busiest days are usually at the end of the school half-terms, especially in February, but any school holiday would create extra demand.

I loved the Photos of France. It was the worst sort of trip report in that I want to down tools, get in the car, and head off for the ferry port

Since you were travelling on the first Saturday of the school holidays, that would make the shuttle a lot busier. I understand that the busiest days are usually at the end of the school half-terms, especially in February, but any school holiday would create extra demand.

Right -- that's why I couldn't slide into an earlier slot. They were all full so I had to wait my turn. (Just to be clear -- I think we are saying the same thing!).

just found this indy - again you have explored parts that in my 55 years in the UK i have yet to reach.

hopefully this will NOT be happening in cornwall, but you never know!

Looks like you had another fun and successful family trip. Your France pics brought back a lot of good memories from our trip to the same area last year. Thanks for posting them. The ferry looked like it was a pretty cool thing to do. I would really like to try that if I ever get back there.

Glad you chimed in, john183. I wanted to let you know that your report on Etretat was a key factor in us deciding to go (along with another recommendation from another guest at our B&B). We really enjoyed it.

Looking forward to Cornwall, annhig. Can you dial up the nice weather for the week we are there? We've had good luck so far . . .

Also, no singing required to drive on the right. It was surprisingly easy to revert back for me.

Also, no singing required to drive on the right. It was surprisingly easy to revert back for me.>>

yes, but how did you get on driving back on the LEFT again - that's the test!

yes, but how did you get on driving back on the LEFT again - that's the test!

No singing required for that either. I guess I'm auto-ambidextrous now.

Okay, back to some trip report info.

Where we stayed:

Rouen, Ibis Rouen Champ de Mars (1 night)
2 double rooms, 50€ each with pre-pay. Easy access with car. 10-15 minute walk into the historic center. Very basic, but fit for purpose.

Bayeux , Churchill Hotel (2 nights)
1 family room, 190€/night. Stayed here because the chateau below wasn’t available all 5 nights. Nice choice for staying in town. Parking worked out but their claim that they have parking is a little dubious (not 24 hrs in my book though there are some options that aren’t too far away). Very helpful and friendly staff, particularly the gentleman in the afternoon. Pricey breakfast was not included so we ate elsewhere.

Bayeux, Chateau de Damigny (3 nights)

http://www.chateaudamigny.fr/?lang=en

2 rooms, €80 each including breakfast. 5 minute drive into Bayeux. Family run and very peaceful. Fairly new B&B with 5 rooms. Rooms were nice; nothing fancy about the common areas or outside but friendly. Best part was the ”table d’hotes” with the hosts and other guests. 28€ pp (half for kids) including multiple course and drinks. Vincent has trained as a chef in addition to running the B&B and the food was outstanding and spending the night with the other guests was very enjoyable. We did it two nights. Best food of the week; felt very French. Highly recommended.

English Channel, Brittany Ferries (1 night)
Overnight ferry (11 pm to 6:30 a.m.) from Ouistreham (Caen) to Portsmouth. Cozy cabin for 4. £344. This worked out really well and was a neat experience. We slept well.

after we came back from one not particularly long trip to France, [where i'd found i had very few problems driving on the "wrong" side of the road] I scared one of my compatriots witless when i was driving down the right side when we got back.

i scared myself too!

Comments on activities:

Rouen – we probably didn’t do it justice with just a late afternoon, dinner and early morning. We enjoyed walking around the old town, seeing the churches and the old/new market. Family thought we could have skipped it in hindsight but it was enjoyable enough.

Rouen to Bayeux visited two abbeys close to Rouen. St. Georges in St Martin de Boscherville and Abbaye de Jumieges. Quick walk through of the first and a little longer on the third. We also drove to Le Bec-Hellouin to visit the abbey there but it was hard to park and crowded due to an event and so we drove on. Would recommend Jumieges if you only have time for 1.

Bayeux – loved the tapestry; got there for the 9 am opening and it wasn’t crowded. This was particularly nice for us because we learned about the Battle of Hastings (1066) last October when we went to Battle for a re-enactment.

Cathedral was impressive but it didn’t really stand out if I’m honest. Perhaps we have reached cathedral fatigue.

Enjoyed walking around the very compact town and trying various restaurants.

Caen - Le Memorial. 3+ hours for an afternoon. To be honest, I had heard this was impressive but I didn’t actually research what was here. It was less on the D-Day invasion and more on the background that let to WWII and the event surrounding it. Very good. There were some D-Day bits and some more modern topics as well. The kids hung in there but it was a little much for them (we did use the movies to break things up a bit). Glad we went.

Mont St Michel Left around 7 am to aim to get inside by 9 am. Glad we did as the crowds (and in our case the heat) really picked up by the time we left. It’s an impressive site and I’m glad we went.

We had intended to pick up a few stops along the “Traditions Route”, in particular the snail farm but the first place was closed and then we couldn’t find the snail farm. We gave up and went back to Bayeux disappointed (and having felt like we wasted some time that afternoon). I should have tried to get better details on locations/hours/etc. before we left but I was somewhat winging it (didn’t work this time).

http://www.calvados-tourisme.com/en/2/0/routes-thematiques/presentation/the-traditions-route

D-Day beaches Decided that a private tour would be best for 4 and with the kids. It wasn’t cheap (325€) and I could have done it myself but it did help bring the story out (since I was fairly ignorant) and frankly it was relaxing not having to worry about where to go. We hired Lucie Hoffman and she road with us in our car.

I assume we did a fairly typical “American” tour: Ste Mere Eglise, Ponte du Hoc, Omaha Beach, American Cemetery. We picked up Arromanches on our own another day. Ponte du Hoc and the Cemetery were our favorites though we enjoyed it all.

cider route

We intended to spend a day along the cider route:

http://www.calvados-tourisme.com/en/1/0/routes-thematiques/presentation/the-cider-route

We started that way and then made up our own plan. We tried and purchase cider in Cambremer, visited a castle/chateau in Crevecoeur-En-Auge, shopped in Buevron-En-Auge and then made a crazy cheese run to Livarot. Super hot that day but it was still fun. Too bad we weren’t prepared with refrigeration/cooler options to buy some cheese as well.

Etretat We had a free day before our 11 pm ferry. Though about 2 hours away, we had heard good things about Etretat so we decided to visit (after Arromanches that morning). What a lovely town. We had a nice lunch and walked/hiked up one of the cliff areas. Fantastic views and atmosphere.

Honfleur We only had a few hours here and probably didn’t do it justice. We walked around the harbor and visited a few churches and galleries. Unfortunately, we had a really bad meal in one of the touristy restaurants along the harbor and that colored our experience.

More on the UK stops later . . .

Glad you enjoyed Etretat - we really liked the spectacular views from the cliffs too. It was really nice because most of the time we felt like we had the whole beach area and cliff tops to ourselves. I like reading about your family outings - they always seem fun and adventurous and you all travel well together. Good times with friends are OK but good times with the family just can't be beat.