| FÉCAMP, just over halfway from Dieppe to Le Havre, is a serious fishing port with an attractive seafront promenade. One compelling reason to pay a brief visit is to see the Benedictine Distillery on rue Alexandre-le-Grand, in the narrow strip of streets running parallel to the port towards the town centre. tours lasting an hour and a half (daily: mid-July to Aug 10am–6.30pm; April to mid-July & Sept 10am–noon & 2–5.30pm; Feb, March & Oct–Dec 10–11.15am & 2–5pm; closed Jan; 5) start with a small museum, set firmly in the Middle Ages with props of manuscripts, locks, testaments, lamps and religious paintings beneath a nightmarish mock-Gothic roof. The first whiff of Benedictine – a sweet herby liqueur often combined with brandy – comes in the grim rust-and-grey-coloured Salle des Abbés, and at this point the script abruptly changes – from mysterious monks to PR for an exclusive product. The boxes of ingredients are a rare treat for the nose (take it easy with the myrrh), and there's further theatricality in the old distillery where boxes of herbs are flung with gusto into copper vats and alembics, though commercial production has long since moved to an out-of-town site. Finally you're offered a dégustation in their bar across the road – neat, in a cocktail, or on crêpes; make sure you hold onto your ticket to qualify. If your aesthetic sensibilities need soothing after this, head for the soaring medieval nave and Renaissance carved screens of the church of the Trinité, up in the town centre, or the modern Musée des Terres-Neuvas et de la Pêche, on the seafront at 27 bd Albert 1er (July & Aug daily 10am–7pm; Sept–June daily except Tues 10am–noon & 2–5.30pm; 3). Spreading across two floors, with lots of miniature model boats and amateur paintings, it focuses on the long tradition whereby the fishermen of Fécamp decamp en masse each year to catch cod in the cold, foggy waters off Newfoundland. Sailing vessels continued to make the trek from the sixteenth century right up until 1931; today vast refrigerated container ships have taken their place. Fécamp's main tourist office is opposite the distillery at 113 rue Alexandre-le-Grand (July & Aug daily 10am–6pm; Sept–June Mon–Sat 9am–12.15pm & 1.45–6pm; tel 02.35.28.51.01, www.fecamptourisme.com). Hotels, which tend to be set back away from the sea on odd side streets, should be booked in advance. Two of the best are the appealing Du Commerce, in the old town at 26–28 place Bigot (tel 02.35.28.19.28, www.hotel-lecommerce.com; 30–40), and the good-value De la Mer, on the seafront at 89 bd Albert 1er (tel 02.35.28.24.64; 30–40), which is nicer inside than it looks from the outside. There's also a superb campsite, the Camping de Renneville (tel 02.35.28.20.97; closed Jan & Feb), a short walk out of town on the western cliffs. Among good-value fish restaurants are La Marée, 75 quai Bérigny (tel 02.35.29.39.15; Sept–June closed Sun evening, Mon, & Tues evening), which is attached to a fish shop and offers dinner menus from 23, and the friendly little Marine, 23 quai de la Vicomté (tel 02.35.28.15.94), that's open daily for good-value 11 lunches and serves a great choucroute de la mer. Alternate spellings:: France, Fécamp, Fécamp, Fecamp
| 
