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Between the seaside and the Normandy bocage, the scenery changes but the charm remains as a link between the golf courses of Granville and Clécy, both members of the Golfy network. Beyond the fairways, Normandy holds many treasures and historical sites of the first order, such as Mont Saint-Michel and the landing beaches.
Since 1912, the offshore wind sweeps over the links of the Golf de Granville. To the historical drawing of Harry Colt, Stuart Hallett recently corrected some evolutions due to the 20th century, giving back the original spirit to the layout. Since 1986, the course of the Dunes, 9 holes signed Fred Hawtree in the spirit of the Links, benefits from the same decoration and the same maintenance as its elder. The courses have entered the era of phyto-zero with pragmatism and realism, a success recognized by all. Behind the granite walls of a period club-house, the table is good, generous, friendly, like this centenary and still young club.
In the heart of Calvados, the Domaine du Golf de Clécy was born in 1989, when Bill Baker adapted to the reliefs of Swiss Normandy to design a course playable in two versions, the Cabri or the Chamois. The route offers viewpoints over a valley as green as it is wooded and the manor of Cantelou serving as a club-house, restaurant and hotel. Pay attention to 18 where the strategy is essential regardless of the option chosen on this par 4 in downhill and right dogleg... At the controls since the opening, the Racloz family has continued to improve its course, according to its means, as well as its infrastructure with, today, a spa within the manor. Something to satisfy the whole family in this little corner of paradise.
In the heart of Granville, the Mercure Granville-Le Grand Large hotel**** has all the advantages to make the most of this city, its port, its beach, its shopping streets and even its casino located opposite the hotel. The decoration of the rooms and reception rooms pays tribute to the child of the country, Christian Dior whose museum is five minutes away on foot. The rooms overlooking the sea have a balcony from where the view of the Chausey Islands invites you to escape. The solarium terrace, swimming pool, fitness and spa offer moments of welcome rest after a round of golf or a day at sea to discover the Channel Islands.
With its 19 rooms in the manor of Cantelou and family cottages, accommodation at the Domaine du Golf de Clécy*** is as varied as quality. In this very "countryside" Swiss Normandy, it is very pleasant to be able to stay on the golf course, forgetting your car during your stay. The restaurant’s menu gives priority to regional flavors, the estate produces its cider, pommeau and calvados that awakens homemade apple pie. Between the fresh cream, the camembert, the andouille of Vire and the apples declined from the starter to the dessert, the «made in Normandie» is not an empty word! In case the meal would be a bit rich, the spa accessible from the rooms is perfect for a moment of relaxation. Around Clécy, charming Norman village, many walks on foot, by bike or on the water are accessible to all and welcome to discover the charms of this little-known region, just 30 km south of Caen.
If, by its coastal position and its strategic location in the bay of Mont Saint-Michel, Granville had a turbulent history from the Middle Ages to the Napoleonic epic, it was from the 19th century that the city and the port experienced a remarkable boom related to fishing and the craze for sea bathing.
In 1912, when the golf was born, the city was equipped with electricity. Let there be light! Nicknamed 'the Monaco of the North' because the Grimaldi family was in charge of it as governor for more than two centuries, Granville shows some similarities with the Principality.
With its port first of all, long a cod-fishing port, it is today the first shell port in France. Without forgetting the marina with nearly a thousand rings. And its Upper Town– historic heart behind the ramparts of Vauban – which is reminiscent of the "Rock" dominating the Mediterranean even if the color and temperature of the waters vary somewhat. On the heights of Granville, many are the villas of the Belle Époque that have kept their charm. Facing the port and the bay, they enjoy a magnificent view while the gulls punctuate their aerial dance with incessant cries. The most emblematic of them remains the childhood home of Christian Dior – industrialist, his grandfather Louis was Minister of Commerce in the 7th government of Aristide Briand. In the villa Les Rhumbs overlooking the bay, for about thirty years, the Christian Dior museum has hosted exhibitions related to fashion and the most beautiful dresses of the designer are permanently displayed there. The museum was supported by the Dior Foundation, it is the only "museum of France" dedicated to a couturier. Its gardens are magnificent, its exceptional rose garden.
Granville also has an island district, the Chausey Islands, the only Channel Islands in France. An hour’s boat ride from the mainland, this archipelago – only the Grande-Île is inhabited by about thirty people – consists of twenty islands and 130 granite islets that are discovered at each tide.
If Chausey is very appreciated for its fishing on foot at the high tides – its tidal zone is the strongest in Normandy -, it is today a very popular tourist site. The tour of Grande-Île is done on foot only, along the guard’s path, bypassing the property of Louis Renault – an austere residence where the industrialist liked to recharge. Only a small hotel and a few guest houses allow you to stay on the island. It’s better to anticipate your reservations. Since 1987, the archipelago has had an ornithological reserve; many birds come to nest on uninhabited islets. We hear them in all seasons!
Between sky and sea, the Mont Saint-Michel which culminates at 157 meters has always fascinated. From the first monks who built the Romanesque abbey church to the construction of the spire surmounted by the archangel Saint-Michel terrassant the dragon of the Apocalypse, built in 1897 and, more recently, to the creation of the new pier in front of the mount, relegating the cars a little further, the mount has known a rich history. Wars, conquests, invasions to which the icon of the Christian West has resisted against all odds...
The site was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Behind the ramparts, in the main street leading up to the abbey, the stalls of the merchants of the Temple loaded with religious and tourist trinkets are constantly chained where the crowd rushes. Mother Poulard’s table changed nothing to the recipe of her grandmother, the cook Annette Boutiaut-Poulard who, with a twist of her hand, frothed her omelette in the 19th century. One hundred and fifty years later, it is still a recipe!
Gastronomy
In Normandy, it is often said that there would be more apple trees than inhabitants and cows combined! In any case, cider does not fall from the sky even if its fermentation dates back to the time when the monks worked the apple juice in the shade of their convents.
Around the year one thousand, the great maritime transhumances brought apples to Normandy, both from northern Europe with the Vikings and from Spain – a little later – with more resistant and productive Biscayan trees. At the end of the 15th century, during the reign of Charles VIII, cider appears on royal tables. Slightly alcoholic, it seduces everyone, starting with Anne de Bretagne who gives it digestive qualities. Manufacturing techniques have evolved since the Middle Ages but the basis remains the same, the apple. Depending on the location of the orchards, the variety of apple trees and the duration of fermentation, tastes differ, more or less sweet, acidic, bitter, soft, even rustic. Today, there are about 400 varieties of cider apple in Normandy. The most widespread varieties are Frequin, Marinonfroy, Bisquet, Bedan and Saint-Aubin for an annual production of about 250,000 tons on 9,000 hectares of orchards. The French cider-growing sector supports nearly 12,000 producers, mainly in Normandy and Brittany. Very refreshing, cider can be drunk at any time, it easily accompanies galettes but also Norman recipes such as tripe à la mode de Caen and simmered dishes, stews, pork cheeks. It goes well with cheeses. A raw cider with a camembert... is worth many small wines! On the teurgoule, this Norman rice pudding cooked over low heat and caramelized, the cider gives some pep to this invigorating dessert. Appreciated at any age, cider has been experiencing a renewed interest in recent years linked to organic production, responsible, locavore, arguments in keeping with the times.
Heritage
In June 2024, we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landing, few men will still be present to remember this day on June 6, 1944. But this will not prevent official commemorations, memorial moments, memories charged with emotion along the beaches and in the immensity of cemeteries where the swarms of white crosses leave no one indifferent.
While the Germans thought that the Allies would land in the Pas-de-Calais, the American, English, and Canadian forces, not to mention the Kieffer commando – 177 French volunteer sailors – created a surprise on the night of June 5 to 6 by bombing, by parachuting then landing between the Cotentin and the west coast of Calvados, cutting breaches in the Atlantic wall, claimed to be infallible by Nazi propaganda. If too many soldiers did not have the time to set foot on the Normandy beaches, cannonaded by German machine guns, the effect of surprise and the number – about 150,000 men – were defeated by enemy forces in ground battles, in the air as well as on the sea. In the days that followed the landing, the allied forces were structured across Normandy, progressing, destroying the pockets of German resistance, until joining Caen six weeks later, at the end of fighting of extreme violence. Then Saint-Lô and the port of Cherbourg in August 44 were liberated, before the troops advanced towards the capital and the liberation of Paris on August 25, 44.
If a few landing craft on the shores and as many German bunkers remain the scars of these battles, most of the memory is lived within the Caen Memorial, smaller museums like that of D-Day Omaha in Vierville-sur-Mer, the house of Liberation in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, from the Pegasus Bridge Museum– the Bénouville bridge on the Caen Canal to the sea won in great struggle by a British regiment – and from Café Gondrée– the 1st liberated Norman house – and, of course, cemeteries paying tribute to all these young men who gave their lives to liberate Europe. The cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel, includes 9387 American soldiers in the perspective of their white cross, not to mention the Garden of the Missing and its list engraved in marble... 1557 unidentified « boys ». Every year, more than a million visitors – many Americans as the month of June approaches – gather in these lands of intergenerational memory.
The Carnival of Granville: the 3rd most popular, after Nice and Dunkirk. Historically linked to the departures of the Newfoundlanders for cod fishing, it was the big party on land around Mardi Gras.
The opportunity to feast, drink, dance, give birth before the great crossing of the Atlantic, to go face the icy winds coming from the Arctic. Even if the conditions have evolved a lot, the sense of celebration and derision, the pleasure of disguise persist for five days of the most unbridled. His majesty the King of Carnival, perched on the chariot of the Demoiselles Terre et Mer, receives the keys to the city every year. Then follows the procession of the children of Calvary while the fanfares trumpet and drum cheerfully. For Mardi Gras, the great Cavalcade gives free rein to the most delirious imaginations, as satirical as humorous until the great battle of confetti in music for the final bouquet of five days and nights of celebration, of delusions shared in a good mood.
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