In the Picauville marshes

Park in the town hall car park.

(S/E) Take the Chasse du Marais, heading south. Cross a stream and turn left immediately after it. Continue along a path at La Couture and head to the next crossroads.

(1) Carry straight on, passing through the hamlet of Clainville whilst staying on the same road. Turn right at the end of the road and stay on the road until you reach Port Beurey.

(2) Turn left to follow the Douve before taking the first path on the left. At the next junction, turn left, then right a little further on, and head for the start of a dirt track on the left.

(3) Take this track and join the D70, keeping to the right. Turn right onto this road.

(4) After about a hundred metres, take a track on the left (do not take the road leading to the hamlet of Béthanie). Pass in front of the Béthanie farm and continue along the track to Le Hamel au Sort.

(5) Turn left in the village, then immediately afterwards, follow the dirt track to the right. Continue straight on until you reach the road at the water tower.

(6) Cross the road and take the path opposite. Turn right at the next junction, rejoin the road and continue straight ahead along it. At the end, turn left to reach Gueutteville.

(7) Turn left then right towards the D15.

(8) Cross the main road and continue straight on without leaving this road. Turn right at the next junction towards Veins Castle and pass in front of it.

(9) At the end of the road, turn left, then left again a few hundred metres further on to reach Chemin Jack Schlegel.

(10) Turn right and continue straight on to reach the hamlet of Les Buts Dorés (D 69) and its houses. Turn left and continue to the Y-junction.

(11) Take the road on the right called Chemin des Buts Dorés, then leave it at the left-hand bend to take a path on the right. You will reach a dead end; follow it to the end.

(12) Turn left twice, then right onto Rue de Carneville. Turn left onto Rue de la Marne, which will take you back to the starting point in the village of Picauville. Take the opportunity to have a look at the information board on Place du Général de Gaulle, situated on the left-hand side of the street just before the (S/E).

This walk is part of a guidebook featuring 13 short walking routes ranging from 8 to 30 km, marked in yellow across the Cotentin Bay area.

Port Beurey (2): this was once a port for gabarres (traditional cargo boats) that transported various materials—clay, reed, lime, and even animals—with unloading quays. Crossings were subject to a fee. This activity ceased in the 1930s.

Hill 30 served as the assembly point for American paratroopers at dawn on 6 June 1944. Along some of the paths leading to the top of the hill, you can admire some remarkable trees, such as beech trees that are several hundred years old.

Bernaville Castle: built in the late 18th century and remodelled in the 19th century, it is surrounded by a wooded park featuring a neo-Gothic chapel and a pond, a refuge for local aquatic wildlife. This castle was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. It was near the château that the German general Falley lost his life, along the road where Jack Schlegel, an American veteran who took part in this battle, was stationed. The final stretch of the route takes you through the hedgerows of the ‘haut pays’. Former airfield. Disused 19th-century flour mill.

Information board: a copy of the Terrier map allows visitors to visualise the landscape as it might have appeared in the 16th century. This document, drawn up under Henry III in 1581, provides a fairly precise survey of the Picauville area, including a representation of the ‘clos’ – plots of land enclosed by hedges, whether grassed or ploughed. It also distinguishes the lowlands or “wet land”, corresponding to the floodplain of the Douve, consisting of pastures for cattle, horses and geese, from the “dry land” or highlands, consisting of arable fields. The current landscape is a bocage mosaic of pastures bordered by hedgerows of ash and pollarded willows. The village of Pont l’Abbé, within the commune, was bombed by the US Air Force in 1944, resulting in the ubiquitous architecture of the post-war reconstruction.

Picauville Church: a 13th-century church (listed as a historic monument), the only one in Normandy dedicated to Saint Candide: a long nave with six-bay aisles, influenced by the architecture of the Île-de-France region and elegantly reinforced in the 16th century by imposing buttresses and flying buttresses. Cornice known as the ‘Beauvaisine’. Square bell tower with an octagonal spire and a flamboyant-style balustrade flanked by pinnacles, similar to those at Périers, St-Côme-du-Mont, etc. Impressive 15th-century porch. Cemetery cross, tombs and gravestones. In the village near the church, the complex comprising the presbytery (17th–18th centuries) and the former town hall (late 19th century). 19th-century schools, the manor house known as the Prieuré (late 15th–16th centuries), and old houses and farmhouses.

The route is dotted with hamlets or linear villages such as Clainville, where ponds or routoirs were used for soaking or retting flax. There were also wash houses and fountains. On leaving the hamlet, you may sometimes spot some large birds typical of the marshes, such as grey herons, storks, swans or egrets. Site of the Battle of Normandy: plaque.

(4) The Béthanie farm, built in the 19th century and formerly known as the Baudienville farm, is currently managed by the Bon Sauveur Foundation. Farm shop selling dairy products: yoghurts, cream, butter and fromage blanc.

In Gueutteville: you will discover farms and manor houses with distinctive architecture featuring towers and dovecotes, some of which date back to the 16th century.

Vains Castle: it has retained its 16th-century round tower, its chamfered mullioned windows, its arrow slits and a tower in the ‘d’Argouge’ style.