The Pays d'Auge Cider and Calvados Route

What it is

The cider route is a signposted circuit of about 40 km along the back roads of the Pays d'Auge, east of Caen. It links the villages of Beuvron-en-Auge, Cambremer, Bonnebosq and Beaufour-Druval through hills, apple orchards, meadows with cows, half-timbered houses, manor houses and stud farms behind white fences. Along the way there are more than twenty producers of cider, pommeau and calvados where you can stop to taste and buy. It is the day that balances the trip: no bunkers.

Allow a whole day with two or three stops at producers and an unhurried lunch.

What you drink

• Cider: fermented from cider apples, which are not eating apples, blended in proportions each house keeps to itself. It is between 3 and 5 per cent ABV.
• Pommeau: the Normandy aperitif, apple juice with calvados, aged in a barrel until it takes on an amber colour. It is served chilled.
• Calvados: cider brandy, distilled twice and aged in oak barrels. Unlike cider, it improves with the years.

Producers with the Cru de Cambremer appellation have their own sign on the route.

The route, step by step

1. Beuvron-en-Auge. Start here: it is one of the villages classed among the most beautiful in France. Call in at the tourist office to pick up the route map.
2. Towards Cambremer. Follow the Route du Cidre signs along narrow roads between orchards. Stop at one or two producers; Calvados Pierre Huet, in Cambremer, shows its distillery and has a shop Monday to Saturday, and also on Sundays and public holidays from April to September.
3. Cambremer. It gives its name to the Cru de Cambremer, the area's cider appellation.
4. Bonnebosq and Beaufour-Druval. The loop back passes manor houses and stud farms before returning towards Beuvron.

A detour for cheese: Livarot

Further south, in Livarot, the E. Graindorge cheese dairy, founded in 1910, has a free tour, the Village Fromager: you watch the workshops from glazed galleries, with videos and a camembert room, and at the end you taste for free the four Normandy cheeses with a protected designation of origin: livarot, pont-l'évêque, camembert and neufchâtel. Allow an hour and a half.

• 2 November to 31 March: Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 12:30 and 14:30 to 17:30; Saturdays 10:00 to 13:00. Closed on 1 January, 1 and 11 November and 25 December.
• April to June and September to October: Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:30.
• July and August: Monday to Saturday 9:30 to 17:30 and Sundays 10:30 to 17:30.

Go in the morning, Tuesday to Saturday, to see more stages of production; on Sundays there is no activity in the workshops. There are leaflets in Spanish that translate the videos.

Getting there and getting around

You need a car or a bike: there is no practical public transport between the producers. From Caen you head east; Beuvron-en-Auge is signposted. The route can also be done by bike: the Normandie Cabourg Pays d'Auge tourist office publishes a cycling circuit through the Cru de Cambremer, starting at Cambremer or Beuvron-en-Auge.

When to go

From spring to autumn producers tend to have longer hours; in winter many open fewer days, so call ahead. In autumn Normandy celebrates its apple and cider festivals: Normandie Tourisme publishes the calendar.

With children and if you are driving

It works with children: there are orchards, small villages and apple juice for them at the tastings. If you are driving, taste only a little or buy to take away and drink when you arrive.