An alternative base to Alençon, at the western end of the Forêt d'Écouves, is the hill town of CARROUGES, with its fine old-style Château set in spacious grounds at the foot of the hill (daily: April to mid-June & Sept 10am–noon & 2–6pm; mid-June to Aug 9.30am–noon & 2–6.30pm; Oct–March 10am–noon & 2–5pm; €5). Its two highlights are a superb restored brick staircase and a room in which hang portraits of fourteen successive generations of the Le Veneur family, an extraordinary illustration of the processes of heredity. the town also offers two appealing, very similar and almost adjacent small hotels: the Hôtel du Nord (tel 02.33.27.20.14; under €30; closed mid-Dec to mid-Jan, plus Fri Sept–June), with a restaurant serving substantial local cuisine on menus that start at €9.70, and the tiny St-Pierre (tel 02.33.27.20.02; €30–40), whose rooms all have showers, and where the restaurant has menus starting at €7.17.
|
