Le Grand Mesnil - Domfront bed and breakfast.

Surrounding area

Domfront:
4 miles (6K) beautiful medieval fortified town with castle ruins. Lovely timbered old town with numerous restaurants and good selection of shops. Maket on Friday, Intermarche and Champion supermarkets. Over the first week-end in August, the 4th and 5th this year, a Medieval festival is held with a banquet, Jousting, encampments, theatre and craft displays.

Bagnoles-de-l'Orne:
A lovely victorian spa town with a casino nestling on the edge of a lake.Vibrant atmosphere with plenty of good restaurants and shops. Surrounded by forest into which you can walk and cycle on path ways. Also two cycle hire centres.

Lonlay L'Abbaye:

Very pretty village with river running through it and former Abbey and huge cider press. A small Abbey biscuit factory open for tours in season.

Flers: Large town with all facilities including a train station. On a direct line to Paris and Granville on the coast. Market on Saturday and large E Leclerc supermarket. Internet cafe, restaurants, Depot de Vente and Chateau.

Maison de la Pomme et de la Poire:

A museum dedicated to showing the process of Cider and Perry making as well as growing many different varieties of the fruit trees specific to the area. There is also a road Cider and Pear route signposted around the neighbouring farms where cider and Perry can be sampled and purchased.

Fosse Arthour: a lovely river gorge with babbling brook and cliff faces on either side. A place for fishing walking climbing or just strolling, with a cosy riverside cafe.

Mortain: A town famous for its Cascades or waterfalls. Also on the Route de Contra Attack, a way marked route by road following the path of the Allies advance towards Falaise after the D Day invasion in 1944.

D Day Beaches: stretch all along the north coast of Normandy and take from between I and 2 hours to reach depending where you go. The newly discovered Maisy Battery nr Grandcamp Maisy is 1hr 30 min away.

Airports: international airports operating at Rennes and Dinard (1hr 30m both) are the nearest.

Ferry Ports: Caen ferry port is only 1hr 20m away and you can book via brittany ferries. www.brittanyferries.co.uk

Things to do

Golf: Nearest course is La Selle la Forge which is 15km away, and 18 holes at Clecy in Swiss Normandy 35km.

Tennis: 1k a free court in St Bomer and more sophisticated facilities at Domfront and Flers.

Cycling: Although the whole area is ideal for cycling, one of the cycle routes designed by the Orne Tourist board, comes right past our front door. There is a centre for off road cycling or VTT as it is known in France at Torchamp 12k

Horse Riding : literally 100m away, or nr La Fosse Arthour 13km.

Walking: the whole area is suitable for walking whether on quiet country roads between villages, or off road in the Foret de Halouze. St Bomer Les Forges has its own set of 6 walks designed to show you the loveliest parts of the immediate area. The GR22 or National walking route is only a kilometre away from the house and a special Voies Vertes or Green Way, a disused old railway line runs through Domfront. This now functions as a walking cycling and riding route from Domfront to the Mont -Saint -Michel, a distance of 60k.

Beaches: 1 hour plus. Why not combine visiting some of the D Day landing sites with a picnic on the beach. All the famous beaches like Omaha and Utah and the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches are ideal swimming beaches.

Canoeing: the nearest canoe and pedalo hire is at la Ferriere aux Etangs 18k or Torchamp 12k, but for more serious enthusiasts there is white water and a Canoe School at Pont D'Ouilly in Swiss Normandy.

Climbing: at La Fosse Arthour 12k and at many sites in Swiss Normandy