Slip into an artist's studio set in a château, discover chapels built into a thousand-year-old tree, pour Calvados into a tomb in the village of Camembert, meditate on a site where the Virgin Mary has appeared twenty times, decipher the alchemical decorations in the Hôtel d'Escoville in Caen, examine a historic swimming pool designed to clean horses, flush out a Freemason architect in Rouen cathedral.



Far from the usual crowds and clichés, Normandy still has some well-hidden treasures that it can only reveal to its inhabitants and to travellers who know how to get off the beaten track.



An essential guide for those who think they know Normandy well, or for those who want to discover a different face of the region.