PAINTing at Château D'Urou in Normandie

Fly to Paris

You will be transferred from the Paris airport to the Château D'Urou.

Your first afternoon is to relax and enjoy the French countryside. The owner will give you an extended tour of the property that includes the horsefarm.

This evening, dinner is included at the Château.

Note that if you decide to do the pre trip tour to the Loire Valley Gardens, you will be transferred from the Loire Valley to the Chateau d'Urou today.

Wake up at your leisure and enjoy a lovely breakfast. Pull a chair outside and sip your coffee while watching the horses train for the races. Join Susan Giannantonio for a morning sketching lesson out in the garden.

Enjoy the rest of the morning either gardening, taking a walk, going for a bike ride, go horseback ride, painting, or helping the owner with a project...

After lunch at the Chateau, you will go visit the Mont Ormel, where the final battle of Normandy was fought and where Germans were finally defeated and retreated.

You will then enjoy a beautiful drive to the village of Camembert where we will visit a local farm and taste the famous cheese. On our way back we will stop at a local calvados distillery for tasting, and where the owner will buy local cider for the evening dinner.

Meals B,L,D

A lovely full day awaits you. You will first drive through the resort of Deauville where Queen Elizabeth II used ti summer with her family, you will then visit the beautiful town of Honfleur with a local guide and have some free time to roam around the museum of painter Eugene Boudin, and the old Basin. Lunch will be at leisure and you will be able to join Susan for a sketch of the colorful houses by the water. On our way back we will stop in Pont L'eveque for a tasting of this famous Normandy cheese, and will make a stop in Lisieux to see St Theresa Basilica before heading back to Chateau d'Urou.

Meals B,D

Saint PIerre sur Dives has an exceptional heritage with its churches and manor houses, its historic streets, its Conservatory Garden showcasing the flowers and vegetables traditionally grown in the Pays d’Auge and the two jewels in its crown: the medieval market hall and its vast abbey. These remarkable sites testify to the richness of a history dating back more than a thousand years. Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives is particularly lively on Monday mornings with its traditional market, one of the most famous in the region. Lunch in the town.

Enjoy a stop in the town of Falaise where you will visit the Castle of William the Conqueror. Come and experience history at first hand. Discover the castle in virtual reality with the aid of a touchscreen tablet.
Falaise Castle is a solid stone fortress dating from around 1000. Built by the first Dukes of Normandy, it was enlarged after the conquest of England in 1066. In the12th century, William’s descendants built two square, typically anglo-norman, keeps using the foundations of the original castle.
These buildings show the Dukes of Normandy at the height of their powers. They are most sophisticated of the Royal Dukes’ palace/keeps and best preserved of their fortresses in France.

Meals B,L,D

Today you will depart early from the Chateau D'Urou and will go to famous sights along the beaches of Normandie that include Bayeux with free time for lunch, Omaha Beach, The American Cemetery and Arromanches where an artificial port was built for the landing. we will end up in Caen for a visit of the Abbey des Hommes where William the Conqueror is buried.  Dinner will be served upon your return at the Chateau D'Urou.

Meals B,D

Enjoy a free morning, This is vacation after all. You may even have a surprise today.

This afternoon, visit the Fernand Leger Museum in the town of Argentan.

We will then take you to the "Lace" Museum which Argentan is known for.

Go back to the Chateau d'Urou, open some wine or cider, and lets have a feast of local specialities.

Meals B,L,D

 This morning you will visit the chateau du Bourg Saint Leonard.

Enjoy a lovely lunch at a local eatery before heading to the Haras du Pin, the oldest National Stud Farm of France founded by Louis XIV. You will visit the Château and the stables and learn about its history and enjoy seeing the horses being trained.

Meals B,L,D

Depart the Chateau in the early morning for Paris Airport.