Beuvron-en-Auge

Beuvron is essentially one square and a short street, but what stands there is a concentrated set of Norman timber-framed houses in the Pays d'Auge style, close-studded oak with brick and cob infill and steep roofs, some fifteenth and sixteenth century. By the 1970s much of it was rundown and the village was emptying; from 1972 the mayor, Michel Vermughen, and his council ran a restoration programme with state and department backing, and the whole village was listed as a protected site in August 1972, which is why it survives. It is listed among the most beautiful villages in France. The surrounding Pays d'Auge is cider and calvados country, with apple orchards and farms selling directly.

What you actually see

• The square - concentrated timber-framed houses around one open space.
• The Vieux Manoir - the most elaborate of the sixteenth-century houses.
• The cider farms - orchards and producers in the surrounding countryside.
• The restoration story - buildings brought back from dereliction in the 1970s, with the market hall rebuilt in 1975 from salvaged timber.

When to go

April to October; the geranium festival in summer and the cider market in October are the busiest. Blossom in the surrounding orchards comes in late April and May.

Honest expectations

The village is very small, seen in under an hour, and heavily geared to visitors with craft shops and restaurants. Parking fills in summer. A car is needed.

Nearby

Cabourg lies north; Caen is west.