The municipality of Grangues is located in the hinterland of Calvados, a few kilometers south of Dives-sur-Mer as well as Houlgate. Easily accessible from the beaches of the Côte Fleurie, the hilly town and its charming church are typical of the villages of the Pays d'Auge.
Grangues and its Notre-Dame church
When you arrive in the center of the town, it is impossible to miss the church of Notre-Dame-de-Grangues, perched on its small mound, in the hollow of the valley. Under the patronage of Notre Dame and Saint Roch, it was built in the twelfthe and XIIIe centuries.
Romanesque in style, it was then modified a century later with the addition of flamboyant Gothic windows. The building, with its atypical façade, is listed as a Historic Monument, as is a bell and part of the interior furniture (painting of Christ and Saint Veronica, sculpture of Saint Roch).
Personalized guided tours are organized in the summer by the association for the protection of the Notre-Dame-de-Grangues church, which actively participates in the restoration of the building.
Grangues spring water
Saint Roch is also the name of the fontaine located below the church, halfway up the stairs. From his tap springs from spring water presumed to cure epidemics. Saint Roch is, in fact, honored in Normandy for delivering men from plague and whooping cough.
In 1871, smallpox broke out in the region. The local abbot set up a pilgrimage to heal the population. Six hundred people left Dozulé and were joined by 900 other pilgrims from neighboring towns on the way to the church of Grangues. The custom is to leave an object as a witness to the healing. The sources of Grangues also supply water daily to the town of Cabourg.
Le country of Dozulé has other springs dedicated to holy healers, such as the Sainte-Radegonde spring in Saint Jouin, that of Brucourt as well as Gonneville sur Mer.
Air crashes of 1944
They constitute another historical interest of Grangues. An explanatory panel, installed by the association "Un Fleuve pour la liberté, la Dives", retraces the events of June 6, 1944, which occurred in several villages in the Pays d'Auge.
Just like Grangues, the communes of Brucourt, Dives-sur-Mer et Periers-en-Auge have witnessed air crashes by collecting lost paratroopers.
The blue eggs of the Pays d'Auge
Continuing south on the D27, you can do some shopping for your evening dinner. Sylvie and Gérard Tellier breed hens of the Marans and Azur breeds.
At the New Ferme Cocotte, a few thousand hens roam outdoors on organic land and produce blue and brown eggs. They are all picked up by hand by the happy owners.
And you know what ? You can even leave with a live chicken!
The farming couple tries to save their hens from the slaughterhouse, when the time comes for the big clean-up. You were looking for an idea to remember your trip to Normandy, right?
