Soul of Normandy

A manor-house is at the heart of our trip, a 1½-hour drive from Paris

Our hosts are an opera singer and pianist. The visit ends with a concert worthy of European opera houses - where hostess Tania Christova has in fact performed.

The manor is set in deep country

: View from the manor

We drive or bike to

• Farms - one dates from the 17th century.

• An 18th-century château and its gardens.

• An artisan who produces cider and calvados far better than what one usually finds in stores.

• Country inns - Our favorite: 28€ for a memorable four-course déjeuner with no tourists.

• A cheese-making establishment whose production is so sumptuous that four-star restaurants absorb most of it.

• The huge Monday produce and livestock market.

• Weekend antique fairs.

• Battlefields...

: The covered market dates from the 14th century.

: Main Street on a Monday morning in August and...

: at déjeuner-time. Notice the mass tourism.

Afternoon can be at a family's 18th-century château, which reveals a refinement whose influence endures

: A unique collection of craftsmen's models reveals daily life's accessories.

: Lurking behind the trees - surprise waterworks, supreme refinement of the time

: Splendid tableware magnified grand dinners' ritual (it still does...)

Last battlefield

: End of the Battle of Normandy: August 19-21, 1944

•A tour that shows the epic's full dimension

Twenty minutes from the manor, high in the hills, the Montormel Memorial near Falaise looks down on the valley where most of the Hitler's army in Normandy was destroyed.

We evoke the last terrible days of the Battle of France during which enough German troops escaped from this valley to continue the war for its worst nine months.