Voyages of discovery

DIEPPE is a perfect hub for voyages of discovery in the ancient hinterland of Seine-Maritime (which used to be called Seine-Inférieure, until dignitaries twigged it that this designation suggested inferiority as well as indicating the lower reaches of a river).

There are fascinating routes to follow, whether you be walking, riding a bike or driving a car. Immediately to the west of Dieppe is the coastal village of Pourville, at the mouth of the lush valley of the Scie, a spot cherished and painted many times by the painter Claude Monet (who didn’t rate Dieppe). We would like to suggest you walk to Pourville along the beach from Dieppe at low tide – clambering over the rocks and pebbles takes about an hour – but such an adventure is officially discouraged, as a chunk of the friable chalk cliffs could fall on you when you pass beneath. And what will you think of the occasional naturist you may encounter on the way? (Hopefully you will be mutually tolerant.)

You can also walk to Pourville taking the top road above the cliffs (a pity there is no pathway to keep you safely clear of the cars for the whole journey) and enjoy the stupendous view along the coast to the west as you descend to the village. There are an oyster bar, not too cheap, and other seafront restaurants when you reach Pourville.

Further to the west is the well-heeled village of Varengeville, where Edwin Lutyens constructed an English house (Les Moutiers) in tune with the nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement, before he achieved fame by creating the Viceroy’s Palace in New Delhi and the Cenotaph in London.

Sainte Marguerite, with its harmonious Romanesque church, follows before you arrive at the quaint seaside resort of Quiberville that recalls (if you are old enough) the English seaside of fifty years ago. This is where the Dillons, Glyn and Siobhan, from the London artistic community, celebrated their wedding feast in colourful international company a few years ago. Quiberville is a locally renowned place to buy freshly caught fish, displayed on stalls adjacent to the sea.

Picturesque Veules-les-Roses, which prides itself on having the shortest river in France to trickle through its streets, is next call along the coast, unless you pop in first to La Chapelle-sur-Dun, where the grocer’s shop doubles up as village restaurant for those in search of country atmosphere and country food. We saw a Labrador dog sitting there at table with its owner: perfectly well behaved, both of them, and both enjoying lunch. The dog didn’t partake of the complimentary pot of wine.

There follow the more famous towns of St Valery-en-Caux, Fécamp and Etretat, before you arrive at the port of Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine. St Valery, which was smashed up in the last war, has fish stalls on the promenade; Fécamp has its crazy pseudo-Gothic Bénédictine Palace and Etretat its memories of Maupassant and Edwardian English visitors. Le Havre is an architectural storehouse from the 1950s, if you are a fan of 1950s concrete architecture.

The winding and majestic Seine river inland from Le Havre is decorated with a string of ancient abbeys, including the ruined Jumièges (famous also for its nearby cherry orchards) and the restored St Georges de Boscherville. Visit Villequier, next to Caudebec-en-Caux, and the museum devoted to Victor Hugo and the family of his daughter Léopoldine: she and her young husband were tragically drowned in the river there in 1843, six months after their marriage.

Along the coast to the east of Dieppe, you discover Les Trois Villes Sœurs (the Three Sister Towns) of Le Tréport, Eu and Mers-les-Bains. The Sisters are very different but manage to get along together. On the way to the Sisters, pop in to visit Susan Tailleux at Les Trois Clos des Prés at Criel-sur-Mer. She is an enterprising American from New Hampshire who makes cider and eau de vie de cidre from the apples in her orchard and sells the pungent products in Dieppe market on Saturday mornings.

LeTréport is a funful Sister without pretensions: a busy fishing port with quayside restaurants whose fare can surpass what you will find in snobbier towns. The restored funicular offers free trips up and down the highest chalk cliff in continental Europe. Jacques Louchard’s ballad “Oh les beaux dimanches” is evocative of the place.

Mers-les-Bains, at the opposite side of the River Bresle estuary, is a more sedate Sister, proud of her riotous art nouveau frontage and quieter beachside culture.

Eu (which we have to call Ville d’Eu to avoid uttering the embarrassing verbal juxtaposition ‘‘Maire d’Eu’’ when referring to its mayor) is the royal Sister: Queen Victoria stayed with French King Louis Philippe in his palace there, and the two monarchs picnicked in the nearby forest during young Victoria’s visit to seal the first Entente Cordiale in 1843.

After leaving the Seine-Maritime department (county) to enter Picardy, of which Mers is an outpost, carry on along the coast towards Calais and visit St Valery-sur-Somme, at the mouth of the tidal Somme river. William the Conqueror sailed from there to change history at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Somme estuary is a gathering place for a rich collection of aquatic birds most of which surprisingly manage to escape the hunters’ pellets.

Just inland from Dieppe is Arques-la-Bataille, with its ruined castle of Henri IV (Dieppe’s restaurant quayside is appropriately named after the hedonistic monarch); its grand medieval church; its art deco school building; and its impressive lakeside social housing that honours a resourceful local council. Nearby to Arques, go walking in the forest or go by bike or foot on a peaceful journey of many kilometres along the Avenue Verte leading to Forges-les-Eaux and eventually beyond. 

South of Arques are such treasures as the seventeenth-century Château de Bosmelet, where the loquacious republican Baron (or Monsieur) Bosmelet will tell you, in impeccable Oxford English, delicious stories of his ancestral home of Louis XIII vintage. Feel daunted by the 300-year-old avenue of limes that have survived many vicissitudes, including the presence of a V1 (doodlebug) launching pad in the château grounds in 1944, from which the German army bombarded southern England during the last months of the Second World War.

Nearby (and on the railway route from Dieppe to Rouen) is the village of Cleres, with its animal park, where wallabies and lemurs jump around, and flamingoes congregate on the lake.

But, above all, you must not miss a day in Rouen, one of the great cities of Europe, which has more preserved ‘‘Tudor’’ beamed architecture than even Chester in England. Here, Joan of Arc was cruelly sent to the stake

by the occupying English army in 1431, to oblige a gaggle of conspiring French bishops. And here Monet painted the Gothic cathedral. He did so again, and again, and again. The train journey to Rouen from Dieppe takes about 45 minutes. Rouen station facade is an art deco treasure.

Beyond Rouen is Paris. That is an interesting city, too.