Forêt de Cerisy and the Druidic Fairy Ring, 15 km from Bayeux
Just 15 kilometres east of Bayeux, the Forêt de Cerisy is one of the last great primeval oak forests in northern France — 2,300 hectares of cathedral-canopy woodland that has been protected since William the Conqueror reserved it as a royal hunting ground in the 11th century. It is wild, beautiful and almost completely ignored by the tourists flooding the D-Day beaches nearby.
Walking and wildlife
The forest has a network of marked trails ranging from 3 km to 14 km. The GR route that loops through the heart of the forest passes through stands of 300-year-old sessile oaks with trunks you can't wrap your arms around, and clearings carpeted with bluebells in late April and early May that are genuinely otherworldly.
Red deer, roe deer and wild boar live in the forest in significant numbers. Dawn and dusk walks in autumn during the rut — when stags roar across the clearings — are one of the great free wildlife experiences in Normandy. Bring binoculars.
The Abbaye de Cerisy-la-Forêt
On the southern edge of the forest stands the Abbaye de Cerisy-la-Forêt, a Norman Romanesque abbey church founded in 1032 by Robert the Magnificent (William the Conqueror's father) and still standing in extraordinary condition. The nave is one of the purest examples of early Norman architecture in existence.
The abbey hosts classical music concerts in summer — check the programme at the Office de Tourisme in Bayeux. Combining a morning forest walk with an afternoon concert in a 1,000-year-old abbey is the kind of day that makes Normandy unforgettable.
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