non "destination" Normandy

Hi Michelle, aside from Mt St Michel Normandy is really not that touristy. Bayeux isn't anything like Florence .... so I do want to encourage you to give the tapestry a try. Our kids loved it, it's basically an oversized comic ;-) The museum didn't feel crowded or touristy at all. We have friends in Le Havre and went to visit with them repeatedly. It is a large bustling city but honestly, if it weren't for my friends I wouldn't go at all.

hi, i guess everyone wants whats on the other side of the fence. i try to avoid the crowds too, but sometimes thats what makes the experience. I was in Caen for a day and thought it was a modern type of city. Since it got the snot bombed out of it during WW2 and it was rebuilt, i didnt get the same quant feeling like i did Bayeux which i loved. I live in a large city (but not compared to the other 2 sister cities, North & south of us). So a small village/1 light town is cool to me. Im not sure how it is during the summer, but when i was there last March, it was dead as door nails on Sunday. oh and someeone else mentioned that June is the DD celebrations, so you maybe just up a creek anyway. happy trails.

A village in upper Normandy that we found charming is Veules-les-Roses. It is very picturesque, good for walks and would be a great town for sketching. It is right on the coast.

We spent two days in Bayeux, and two days touring the USA battleground sites. Bayeux was quiet - even the tapestry wasn't busy. A very manageable town to walk around in, and lots of yummy places to eat cheese ;-) And maybe have some cidre...We wanted at least two more days! Only one of the 'battle museums' in the countryside was remotely crowded; the rest of the area (and we covered a lot of ground!) was very sparsely populated and traffic, etc., was at a minimum. Beautiful! So I'd definitely say 3 days in Bayeux, and I'll leave the specifics to others on what smaller town to stay in.

Michelle,
We stayed at a rural farmhouse, (but modernized and comfortable)just outside Villers-Bocage, about 15 miles SE of Bayeux. We drove to the villages around Avranches (around 90 minutes) along the coast highways and stopped off where it looked interesting. We did visit MSM but arrived way before the tour buses and spent about 2 hours tops there. We then drove around the bay to Cancale for a wonderful seafood lunch with MSM visible across the bay. Check out banbnormandie.com. They have a house as well a a few wonderful rooms at the 300 year old family farm. Villers-Bocage is a delightful town and we loved eating and shopping there too. Odile and Jacques and their sons are marvelous hosts. We plan to return next spring. George and Elaine

Go to the tip, neat Cherbourg.

You might research to see if the Nord Pas de Calais area from Sangatte to Cap Blanc Nez suits you. You will get an expansive beach, steep white cliffs,pastures,farmland,and beautiful walks along the edge of the cliffs. If you are fortunate enough to get good weather you can see across the channel. It is the area where the German army thought the invasion would land so there are some bunkers and bomb craters to examine if you want.
However it is questionable if it warrants three days.

Hi, True, if you go to some of the beach towns in the (Nord) Pas-de-Calais area, there are some bunker remnants as well as pill boxes to be seen.

This is fabulous! Thank you all so much, I have a good start to researching. Getting my hands on a guidebook is a challenge here, so I rely on the internet, which can be overwhelming. Great to hear from fellow travelers. I should amend that while I avoid touristy places, I completely accept that any charming place will have it's share. Spello, where I live, gets no more than a paragraph in any guidebook, and there are tourists here all the time. While I prefer places that feel completely untouristed, I know those are rare, so all I actively avoid are are crowds of people moving en masse from one place to another, with the guidebooks clutched like a lifeline. Sounds like Normandy is the region for me. Any thoughts on Rouen as a city for the base for half of our trip? We are hoping for 3 days in a city/large town and 3 days more pastoral. Thanks again!

For Large city, Rouen is definitely a good choice. It's a large city, it has history (not bombed too much during WW2) and is not on the main tourist path. For small city, market town type, I can suggest Saint Lô, Vire, Falaise or Domfront, Granville (on the coast), villedieu-lés-poeles. All these are pleasant little towns with few tourists (except Granville in the summer, but may will be quiet).

You said you've lived in Italy for 10 months and I'm assuming that you might ne Americans since you are writing to the TH. If that is true, please consider going to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach and the WWII museum. It won't be crowded and while you might not think you have an interest, I believe that once there you will find it a moving experience for you and your children. This is the place (Caen) where the Frence people were freed from the Germans and was the beginning of the end for Hitler. That is significant for all of Europe, no matter where you live or come from. Also try to visit Honfleur, a beautiful town where the Seine iintersects with the English Channel across from the Port of Le Harve. Artists have gone for centuries to find inspiration and some great paintings have come from there. See this link http://www.google.com/imgres?q=honfleur&sa=X&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=453&tbm=isch&tbnid=e_h5T5YyP_6qeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/honfleur/&docid=vD2xRt1-of1w-M&imgurl=http://www.frommers.com/images/photos/photos500/0567-35405.jpg&w=500&h=333&ei=GGZxUduGGaSE2wWKloCAAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=703&vpy=95&dur=29&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=169&ty=116&page=7&tbnh=137&tbnw=228&start=85&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:94,s:0,i:373

Do what Bets said and go all the way up to Cherbourg or else stay off the Contenin completely and knock around the rest of Lower Normandy. Alternatively, explore Upper Normandy along the Picarde border.

For bucolic and cheese, etc, I'd recommend less Pays de l'Auge -- think cows, Norman cream, apples, cider, timbered houses, etc. for example, look up Beuvron-en-Auge. My Rough Guide of a few years back had decent information on this area, I presume a new edition would continue in the same vein.