We (family of 4) will be visiting the Normandy Coast during August. We are hoping to spend 3 days travelling by car visiting the D Day Beaches , Caen Museum and working our way to Mont St. Michel and then maybe a scenic drive to Morlaix. Can anyone suggest a central area to stay for all 3 nights? Following this we will probably drive to the Loire Valley for 3 nights. Thanks in advance.

Bayeux seems to be most people's favorite base for this trip. It is a town that has a lovely cathedral, the famous Bayeux Tapestry, a few great bistros, and some decent little hotels. We stayed at the reasonable 3 star Hotel d'Argouges, which is right in town and w/in walking distance to the Tapestry, restaurants, cathedral, and the pick up spot for Battlebus tours, if you happen to be using them. HIghly recommend: www.battlebus.fr
Also Le Petit Bistro for dinner--small, so make reservations

www.hotel-dargouges.com

We've stayed in Bayeux and liked the inland location. A hotel right on the coast would mean you'd be battling lots of holiday car traffic everywhere you go.

I don't like to recommend hotels I haven't recently stayed at, but I suggest you look at reviews for Chateau d'Argouges. You can also do a search here for other recommended hotels in Bayeux.

Grandmere types faster than I do...

I highly recommend the Churchill Hotel. We stayed last April for 4 nights and hated to leave. Lovely owners and employees. Very nice, very clean rooms. Great restaurant recommendations from owner (I second the Le Petit Bistro mentioned above). They have a large complimentary parking lot, the Battlebus tour leaves from the edge of their parking lot (highly recommended). The hotel also has a shuttle to Mont St. Michel which I recommend. My husband enjoyed the break from driving and the driver, Meurice, was very informative and friendly. The tapestry is 2 minutes walk from the hotel. Loads of positive reviews and pictures on Tripadvisor. The website for the hotel is:
http://www.hotel-churchill.fr/

Outside of Bayeux, we stayed at La Ferme du Pressoir in Villers-Bocage for three nights. http://www.bandbnormandie.com/ We were traveling as a family of 3 and the accommodations suited us perfectly. The owner, Odile, is an absolutely wonderful host and provided a delicious breakfast each morning. The locations was a great base for exploring the D-Day sights, Honfleur, and Mont St. Michel.

Restaurants in Bayeux that we enjoyed: Le Petit Bistro (across from the Cathedral)2, rue Bienvenu, Tel.: 02 31 51 85 40: closed Mon. and Tues.
Le Petit Normand (also across from the Cathedral)

We went on the full-day Victory Tours with Roel which was also great. http://lignerolles.homestead.com/victorytours.html The other couple that was signed up for the tour never showed so we had a private tour.

We had a very pleasant stay a few years ago here: http://www.les-marronniers.com/pages/accueil_gb.htm. Good central location for Normandy, although not on the coast.

More votes for the Churchill Hotel, Battlebus tour, and Le Petite Bistro Another place that we had a great dinner was Le Fringale, which was across the street from the hotel and down about 3 businesses.

Whatever reservations you want to make, do it quickly. August is the vacation month for all of Europe and many of our clients cannot find accommodations. People look for August bookings beginning in January!