Overview

Normandy is a melting pot of peoples and languages giving it a rich heritage of traditions, monuments and history.

The stunning beauty for the region’s interior, with its thatched cottages, traditional farming and ever-changing landscapes, is matched by a long coastline which stretches from the sandy beaches of the Seine Maritime in the east to the wild Cotentin seaboard and the World Heritage site of Mont Saint Michel and its bay, with its huge tidal range and strong currents.

Annexed by the Roman legions and Viking adventurers, disputed for centuries by English and French Kings, beach-head for D-Day armies, Normandy is acrossroads where culture and ideas, artefacts and produce have met and mingled; making it ideal for a school group visit.

Accommodation

Commes.

3 Star

The centre is set in the beautiful Calvados countryside, one kilometre form the sea and nine from Bayeux, is a recently converted residential centre that provides an ideal setting for students and staff to learn in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. The centre includes two learning areas – fitted with computers and an interactive whiteboard – which open onto a courtyard and the centre has extensive enclosed grounds with facilities for sports.
The student accommodation consists of twelve en-suite rooms, each sleeping four with catering for up to 48 students in total. There are rooms for physically disabled pupils and en-suite twin rooms for accompanying staff, plus a staff lounge with TV. Accommodation is on two floors, enabling separation by gender or age according to the group composition.

Bon Sejour.

3 Star

The centre is located on a sandy beach near Merville-Fanceville and has a lounge, classrooms, restaurant and a lift to all floors. Rooms for students are for 2-4 persons with staff in twin-bedded rooms or singles (supplement applies). All the rooms are en-suite. Facilities at the centre include table tennis, pool and karaoke with outdoor activities such as mini-golf, tennis and sailing on site.

Sample Itinerary

• Day 1

  Arrive at the accommodation in time to settle in and for dinner. Depending upon time of travel, a local visit/activity may be possible.
• Day 2

  Morning visit. Lunch. Afternoon visit/activity.
  Eve: Bowling
• Day 3

  Day visit in the local area.

  Eve: In-house
• Day 4

  Local visit/activity in the morning. Lunch.

  Afternoon travel back to the UK

  This is a suggested itinerary only and can be of any length, combined in a variety of ways and be tailored to include the excursions and visits that you require. Time can be made for school based workbooks and/or “diary time” can be incorporated into an itinerary. Any quotation will INCLUDE excursion and entry fees as stated in the itinerary. We will provide a guide price for any additional visits/activities.

Excursions

WHAT IS INCLUDED:-

• Transport to France by executive coach and ferry crossing.
• Airport transfers as appropriate
• Course tailor made in consultation with group leader
• All course materials
• Hotel or holiday centre accommodation, full board and multi bed rooms for students and twin/single rooms for teachers.
• Meals are full board with packed or cold lunch   
• Afternoon trips or activities included.
• One full day trip included.

SELECT FROM:-

Day trip from: D Day Landings, Rouen, Falais, Caen
Afternoon trips from: Mont St Michel, Bayeux, Fougères medieval fort, Caen, Arromanches and more
Activities from: Bowling, local market, beach, aqua park, cinema, museum and local chateau guided tour, caramels factory, fromagerie.

EXCURSIONS AND VISITS.

D DAY LANDINGS.

Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword and memorials throughout the region stand as forceful reminders of this decisive periodof WW2. The Battle of Normandy Historical area is an open air museum covering the depertements of Calvados, Orne and Manche and includes all the sites, museums, and memorials associated with D-Day and the invasion.
Possible visits include: Arromanches 360°Film Show, June 44 museum, Caen Memorial, Musée be la Batterie de Merville, The Atlantic Wall Museum, Galleries 117 and more...

BAYEUX.

With its perfectly preserved Medieval history, magnificent cathedral and world famous tapestry, Bayeux is just 23 kms from Caen and so easily accessible from your accommodation. The town centre and the cathedral date from 1077 and the latter was the home of the tapestry until it moved to its present site at the Centre Guillaume le Conquerant.
Nearby there is also the largest British war cemetery in Normandy, a moving pace, immaculately attended by the War Graves Commission, while across the road is the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy which recounts the action seen in Normandy from 7^th June to 29^th August, 1944.

CAEN.

Capital and largest city of Basse Normandie, this may well not be a place where you'll want to spend much time: in the months of fighting in 1944, it was devastated. Nonetheless, nine hundred years ago the city was the favoured residence of William the Conqueror and remains – in parts – impressive.
Its central feature is a ring of ramparts that no longer have a castle to protect, and, though there are the scattered spires and buttresses of two abbeys and eight old churches, roads and roundabouts fill the wide spaces where pre-war houses stood.

MONT ST MICHEL.

Mont St Michel is situated on a quasi-island on the Normandy coast, near Brittany. At high tide, Mont St Michel is almost entirely separated from the mainland. Only a narrow causeway, constructed in the 1880s preserves a link to the coast. Mont St Michel had its beginnings as a monastery. There has been a Christian shrine on the site since the eighth century and the first church was completed in 1144. By the thirteenth century, hundreds of Benedictine monks lived in the sturdy structures on Mont St Michel. They held out against the enemy when most of western France fell. Today there is a bustling tourist town at the base of the Mont.