One kilometre from the beach at Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes (Omaha Beach), between Bayeux and Arromanches, two lodgings (sleeping 7 and 4) to rent for your Normandy adventures, right on the D-Day landing beaches.
Hello, I'm Anne. Les Rabouillères is our family house, the one where our children learned to catch shrimp, where we come back every August for blackberry jam, and where, through the kitchen window, you can still hear the bells of Sainte-Honorine.
We opened its doors for you because we'd love you to experience Normandy the way we do: early mornings at the bakery, fish & chips facing Arromanches at low tide, and in the evening, in the garden, a cider poured straight from the farm next door.
A main house (4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms) and Chasse Spleen, a separate one-bedroom lodging with a mezzanine, on the ground floor. Rent them together or separately, whether you arrive as a tribe or as a couple.
4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, up to 7 people. Perfect for a family, a group of friends, a weekend among cousins.
Independent lodging, 1 bedroom + mezzanine, ground floor, private entrance. For a couple, a parent working remotely, or grandparents.
Up to 11 beds, two entrances, two kitchens. For big multigenerational gatherings: everyone keeps their privacy, and you all meet in the courtyard.
Local stone, a Norman wardrobe, four comfortable bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen with everything you need to cook if you feel like it and enjoy the local delicacies.
The independent lodging across from the house: a ground-floor bedroom, a mezzanine for the children, a bathroom of your own. Ideal when the house and Chasse Spleen are rented at the same time: the grandparents keep their independence, while their children and grandchildren stay in the house.
"Perfect for exploring all the D-Day sites on foot."
"Authentic Norman charm."
"A very well-equipped kitchen."
"Very well located, 1 km from the beach, ideal for the peaceful country stay we were after."
"A very pleasant lodging, well laid out and of high quality. The place is quiet, we are delighted."
"Communication with Anne was excellent; her advice made for a very pleasant stay. We warmly recommend it."
There's the list of things to see, and then there's the Normandy we keep for ourselves. Here's what we whisper in your ear before you pack your bags.
Fifteen minutes by bike on the EuroVelo 4, between fields and sea. The harbour comes to life, the trawlers return to the quay. You pick your fish straight off the catch, then ride home with landscapes that change every single day.
Traditional baguette, croissants with Isigny butter, fallue brioche, teurgoule rice pudding and the brasillé — that oval puff-pastry flatbread, a Calvados speciality, eaten warm and dusted with sugar. A country recipe dating back to 1837.
At Arromanches, when the sea pulls back, you walk at the foot of the Phoenix caissons. Fish & chips on the way home.
A net, and the children shrieking with joy each time a shrimp jumps. Best done two hours before low tide. The gear is available at the Comptoir de la Mer, in Port-en-Bessin.
Go at opening time for the day's catch, the camembert, the heirloom tomatoes from the market gardener. Leave with a basket that smells of summer.
The hedgerows in August are often full of blackberries. You set off with two big bowls, come back with purple fingers, and the next day it becomes jam, crumble, or a tart with Isigny crème fraîche.
The cider farm in Saint-Laurent can host a tasting of cider, pommeau, vinegar and calvados. La Sapinière, at Ruquet beach, is not far.
On 6 June 1944, five beaches, from Utah to Sword. The house sits right there, in Aure-sur-Mer, between Port-en-Bessin and Colleville-sur-Mer, at the hinge between the American and British sectors. The perfect base to reach every site in no more than 45 minutes' drive.
Three travel notebooks we drew up from the house, so you miss nothing of the D-Day landings or the coast. From the two-day highlights to the fifteen-day deep dive, by bike or by car.
On foot at the bottom of the village: the eastern end of Fox Red. At low tide, the waterfall tumbling off the cliff, the fossils in the rocks, the house from "The Longest Day" and the WN60 bunkers above.
West to the Les Braves memorial at Saint-Laurent, then the Colleville American cemetery, 70 hectares above Omaha, more than 9,000 graves.
The 30 m cliff scaled by the Rangers, a landscape of craters and bunkers. Then the German cemetery at La Cambe, "reconciliation over the graves", more than 21,000 soldiers.
Three of the four casemates still hold their original 150 mm naval guns. A coastal walk from Longues toward Arromanches for the finest views.
The D-Day Museum and its models, and the Arromanches 360 circular cinema on the heights with its archive footage.
At low tide, you walk a few metres from the concrete blocks towed across from England and sunk to form the breakwater. An easy ride back to the house.
Settle in, then a gentle first taste: the Sainte-Honorine beach or the dunes between Colleville and Le Ruquet.
Sunday market, harbour, Vauban tower and lighthouse. In the afternoon, the Longues guns and the coastal walk toward Arromanches.
Mulberry B, the museum and Arromanches 360, the Phoenix caissons at low tide, and an ice cream at La Haizerie above the village.
Les Braves, the American cemetery, the wrecks at low tide, the Pointe du Hoc and La Cambe. Back via WN60 above the house.
Saint-Jean market and old town, the cathedral, the Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum, the British cemetery and the Tapestry.
The British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer, the Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles, and Pegasus Bridge, the first objective liberated on D-Day.
The Baie des Veys and its seals, the Utah Beach museum, Sainte-Mère-Église and the Airborne Museum. Home with oysters for the apéritif.
Just time to say see you next time.
Settle in and a first stroll on the American sector.
Market, harbour and lighthouse, then the Longues-sur-Mer guns.
Mulberry B, Phoenix caissons, ice cream at La Haizerie.
The big loop of the American sector, back via WN60.
Market, cathedral, Memorial Museum, British cemetery, the Tapestry.
Paddleboarding, sand yachting, cycling, horse riding, or simply the beach and the garden.
The British and Canadian sectors, the first house in France to be liberated.
Beauguillot, Utah Beach, the Airborne Museum, oysters on the way back.
A lie-in, the Port-en-Bessin market, oysters for the apéritif.
Boat from Granville, the largest archipelago in Europe, seals and blue lobster.
Recover, or visit the Château de Colombières and the Cotentin marshes.
A guided walk across the bay, the abbey, then the ramparts of the corsair city.
The west coast of the Cotentin, Cherbourg and the Cité de la Mer, or the Norman Switzerland.
Ferry from Granville, the Jersey War Tunnels, St Brelade's Bay. Passport and ETA required.
Just time to say see you next time.
Nature, heritage, history, remembrance, sport or good food: whatever the length of your stay, I'd be delighted to create a personalised itinerary based on what you fancy and the season. Tell me what makes you dream, and I'll take care of the rest.
A few minutes to understand why we come back every year and always leave wanting more, with our heads full of ideas for next time.
The questions that keep coming up in our messages. If yours isn't here, write to us: we always reply the same day.