Cider Route of Pays d'Auge

The Route du Cidre is a signed loop of about forty kilometres through the Pays d'Auge, the hilly orchard country between Lisieux and the coast, linking around twenty producers who open their farms. Cider apples here are bitter and bittersweet rather than eating varieties, and the appellation cider is bottle-conditioned; the same fruit distilled and aged in oak becomes calvados, which by rule must age at least two years. Pommeau, unfermented juice blended with calvados, is drunk as an aperitif. The route passes through Beuvron-en-Auge and Cambremer, both timber-framed villages, and the same country makes Livarot and Pont-l'Eveque cheeses.

What you actually see

• The orchard farms - producers opening presses, cellars and tasting rooms.
• The calvados stills - copper apparatus and oak ageing cellars.
• Beuvron-en-Auge - a timber-framed village on the circuit.
• The cheese country - Livarot and Pont-l'Eveque made in the same fields.

When to go

May to October for open farms; pressing and distilling happen in autumn and winter, so the working season and the visiting season do not fully overlap. Apple blossom is late April.

Honest expectations

Farms keep their own hours and many close at lunch and on Sundays, so a route without checking ahead can find gates shut. Tastings involve spirits, which matters if you are driving. Signage is inconsistent in places.

Nearby

Lisieux lies south; Honfleur and the coast are north.