FOUND: A Great B&B in Normandy!
 

Just returned from 3 days in the Normandy area, and wanted to post a huge THANK YOU to Underhill, who originally suggested our B&B in a post a few months back. Based on her suggestion, I checked out Chateau de Cottun (www.chateau-de-cottun.com) and was very impressed with the website and the quick responses from the owner. We ended up staying in the Guillaume room, the largest of 5 rooms in the chateau. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, our room was huge, and everything was immaculate. The breakfasts were great and had a wide variety. Best of all was the owner, Thomas Kleingartner. He is very friendly, thorough, and knowledgeable about the area. He even fixed my daughter a special breakfast plate each morning! He speaks English, French, German and Italian fluently, and clearly knows his stuff. He had some great suggestions based on the fact that we have a 2-year-old, helped us with maps, etc. THE BEST PLACE WE HAVE STAYED IN EUROPE, PERIOD.
Would highly, highly recommend it to anyone.

Again, thanks to Underhill! You will greatly enjoy your stay here.

I will try to post more about our trip later. Still trying to regroup and rest up!

Cheers,
Wesch

Oh, and I forgot to mention...the rates are VERY REASONABLE for this chateau. I just saw someone else's post about paying over 300 or 400 euros per night for a chateau in the Normandy area. YIKES! I can't imagine paying that much for a room anyway, but for the Chateau de Cottun, we got the largest room in the house and it was less than 100 euros per night. EXCELLENT VALUE!

Wesch,

I'm so glad to hear that the Château de Cottun is a good place to stay--we're looking forward to it more than ever after hearing your report.

Any good restaurants to suggest?

Well, I'm probably a bad one to ask about restaurants. We can't do the 3-hour sit-down kind, as we have a 2-year-old and that would exceed her attention span by about 2 hours and 50 minutes!

So we have to stick to the brasseries and snack shops, which quite frankly, we are sick of. They all seem to have the same menus - pizza, croque monsieurs, and fries. YUCK! Sorry...this comes after living here for 9 months! I miss variety!

Anyway, we did get a quick lunch at a restaurant across from the Museum in Arromanches that was pretty good - I think it's called something like "Speed Food" - really. The burgers weren't bad. I'd stay away from the hot dogs. They also had salads, omelettes, etc. This area is also the best for souvenir shopping. I thought Normandy would be swamped with souvenir places, but no. There was not much choice in shirt styles, etc. We bought most of our souvenirs at the store next to the restaurant mentioned above.

Have a wonderful trip - it was great to see it all. And definitely visit the German cemetery, as well as the American. The contrast is very interesting.

underhill, if you are going to pass near Trouville stop at our favorite bistro in the area, Les Vapeurs. The moules in creme are special. and the ambiance too.

That's already on my Normandy list, thanks to you and some others here and at the BP site--and so is Le Chat qui Pèche, in Honfleur. Moules au crème: yum!!!

Wesch-

My wife was the one your daughter sat with one morning at breakfast.

We were there for three dayswith our infant, 5 yr-old, and my mom. We had one half of the upstairs to ourselves. My wife and I had a room with a queen in a suite that included a huge sitting room with a single bed for our 5 yr-old. I actually spent more time in his room reading and used his bathroom more than our own.

Thomas is wonderful. He brought breakfast to our room one morning whne my 5 yr-old just wanted to lay in bed with his dad. He knocked and placed a tray with what he said was just coffee on a table in the short hall connecting the bedroom and sitting room. When I got out of bed, I was surprised to also find everything from breakfast except for cereal.

Thomas was great with our children. As infants tend to do, our daughter had some very dirty diapers that resulted in some very dirty clothes. Thomas happily suggested that we use his washer. When we returned at the end of the day, her clothes were folded and on our bed.

One evening, thomas provided us with a bottle of Nomandy cider and snacks and joined us after our five yr-old invited him. That same evening, another couple came outside to eat on the lawn with us after Thomas left a bottle of wine, some cheese, and bread for them in their room.

The rooms are large, the rates perfect, and the owner is simply the most hospitable person I have stayed with when compared to others who are considered top notch by people on this board.

My 5 yr-old and infant can sit still for a long dinner, so let me tell you about two places we really enjoyed. Le Pommier in Bayeux received great reviews and really measured up. I had the duck and loved it. The warm apple tart is the best I have had. Accross the street is an Italian place we all really liked. The pizzas and pastas were wonderful. My wife said the salmon pizza she had there was the best meal of the trip. The reastraut next to each of theese has great creaps if you are looking for a good, fast meal. All of the staff at each is kind and the food is great.

On this trip we went to Luxembourg, Reims, Chartres, Bayeux, Brugge, and London. Bayeux was everyone's favorite, and think that is in large part due to Thomas. I wish everyone I know was going there, because I would like to fill up his chateau every night. I agree, it is the best place we have ever stayed whether you are talking about B&Bs or hotels, and we have stayed in some great places. Thomas is one of a kind, and we cannot wait to go back.

What great recommendations! We didn't make it to Normandie this summer..traveled in SW France, but next summer we are determined to go there. We had looked at this chateau when it still looked like Normandie would be possible. I am thrilled to hear how you all loved it! I will definitely reserve it for next summer. Could you use it for your base an include Honfleur and Deauville as daytrips or is it a little far? How many days would you recommend there?

This sounds like just the kind of place I would love! I will definitely remember this when I plan a trip to Normandy.

It would really depend on what you planned to do. It may not be too far if you do not mind driving a little more than otherwise. We live in Texas were a couple of hours in the car does not get you very far, so no one minds a one hour drive during the day.

There is pleanty to do within easy driving distance of the chateau. It just really depends on your priorities. I really wanted to see all of the beaches, spend time in Bayeux, visit Caen, Mont St. M., St. Lo, and several other places within easy driving distance. We did not make it to half of the places we wanted to see, but that gives us more to do when we return. We put it in the middle of a three week trip and took the opportunity to rest as well. There was one day we did not leave until 11:00, and the other two days we did not leave before 9:30. Since it was light until after 10:00, we had some late days to make up for the late mornings.

I do not think it really answers your question, but I hope it helps.

I would also add that I would be more than willing to drive a little more just to be able to stay with Thomas. I think Wesch and any other guest would agree.

ttt

Dan...I lived in Texas for my first 30 years...now I live in S. FL. I totally understand what you are saying. You have to drive for hours in those states to see anything different! So what would be the minimum number of days to do the area justice?

That is really hard to say. It depends on what you are in to. For me, I really wanted to make it a cultural and WWII visit. I wanted to spend time around the farms, in the cities just walking around, and at the beaches. Without kids and going from early morning until the end of the day, I think you can do all of the beaches and their related museums in 2.5-3 days. Cherbourg, Mont St. M., Bayeux, Caen, and other significant day trips can take fully one day. It would also be nice to head to Etretat at the far east end of Normandy and to do stuff along the way there and back. I think if you want to do the entire Normandy area, it would take 8-10 days. Bayeux would be a good base of opperations because of its central location.

So perhaps a few nights in the Rouen area, and then a several more in Bayeux would work well. We would probably go on down through Brittany and make a loop back toward Paris.

Sure, Wren--that's a good plan. How much time will you have for Brittany?
If you're interested, I can send you the link for the 3 articles on Brittany I wrote for the bonjourparis.com site.

Thanks Underhill. My email address is [email protected]. I covet any info you have to give!! We just returned from our trip and already I am starting these plans. I am unsure about how long for Brittany. We will most likely be swinging down around Saumur to revisit some friends. So we will most likely not spend more than 3 days--I know we will need to return someday to really see it.

I just sent off the link; hope the information proves useful.

I meant to say that I am already planning for next summer! Would go back sooner if I could!!

Hi,
My fiance and I are planning to go to France for our honeymoon (summer 06). I was wondering if this would be a good place to stay for honeymooners? Also, the website said that the b&b is 5 minutes drive from Bayeaux. Is driving the only way to get into Bayeaux? And once you're in town, can you take buses/trains to the sites around there (Mont St. M, etc.)? Thanks!
Katie