Apple farm on the Route du Cidre
Honfleur is in the département of Calvados, which takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the coast and now gives its name to the famous AOC (appellation d'origine controlée) apple brandy that is made in this area. The department of Calvados was the center for the “Battle of Normandy” that followed the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, and most of the towns and villages were badly damaged during this battle that ultimately resulted in peace in Europe. As we’ve driven through the beautiful and very peaceful countryside this week, it’s almost impossible to imagine the tanks and soldiers—and death—that traveled these same roads just sixty-two years ago this summer.
The tourism office of Calvados has developed five thematic driving loops within the département, and today we drove the "Route du Cidre” in an area called the Pays d’Auge. This was the driving route closest to our location in Honfleur. We had a brochure, but the route would have been easy to follow without it, since each turn was marked with a special sign.
We took back roads to Pont-l’Évêque, a town that is famous for a noted AOC cheese of the same name, then picked up the Cidre route at Bonnebosq. (The Tour de France will be traveling through some of this area later this week, and we saw several signs announcing the times of the road closure.) We really enjoyed the drive, most of it on very small country roads that we would never have found on our own. The route must be a well-kept secret, as we saw very few cars or other tourists. We stopped at a unique 12th century church, passed through several small hamlets, peeked through hedges at impressive chateaus, and enjoyed the peaceful rolling countryside with its apple orchards, horse farms, and fields of golden wheat and grazing cows, The Normandy cows that produce all this butter and cream are particularly distinctive—dappled in brown or black. The architecture is also distinctive with brightly-colored half-timbered houses, even some with thatched roofs.
Monsieur Gerard Desvoye and his grandson at his apple cellar
Seventeen “producteurs” of the Cru de Cambremer (apple farmers) are located along the Cidre route. We were amazed to read that there are over nine million apple trees in Calvados! These farmers distill, bottle and sell alcoholic beverages made from apples: cidre, pommeau and calvados. It is the Norman version of the small family-run vineyards and wineries we’re familiar with in Provence. We visited one farmer with a sweet little grandson and a very picturesque farmyard and cellar. We tasted his pommeau and calvados and bought four bottles of the pommeau. Charley and I have especially enjoyed our discovery of pommeau, a blend of apple juice and calvados, usually drunk chilled before dinner. Hopefully we can find it back home in Knoxville.
In Beuvron-en-Auge
Later on the route we stopped in the village of Beuvron-en-Auge, designated one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France” (most beautiful villages of France). Beuvron-en-Auge is a laid-back storybook village of about 200 people: colorful houses, a couple of restaurants and shops, and lots of flowers simply everywhere. While I wandered around the village, poking into shops and snapping photos of the houses and flowers, Kelly played with a very sweet three-legged cat she discovered on a bench in the square. Kelly’s lasting memory of our afternoon on the Route de Cidre will be that little cat.
