Description:

Introduction

The Pays de Bray is a rolling pastoral landscape dotted with typically Norman farmhouses and cottages and is known for its production of milk and dairy products especially cheese. The best known of the cheeses is Neufchatel named after one of the largest towns of the Pays de Bray and where production of the cheese is concentrated.

The region also has apple orchards and produces cider and a passable 'Calvados' or apple spirit.

 Bray is also a country of forests, woods,rivers and chalk streams valleys and chalk hills as well as numerous chateaux, (such as that of Mesnières-en-Bray north of Neufchatel), churches and Norman 'longère' farmhouses.There are many small and historic churches in the villages that dot the landscape.

The Pays is the source of the river Epte which enters the Seine at Vernon (Eure). The principal towns of the area are Gournay-en-Bray to the south, Neufchatel-en-Bray to the north and Forges-les-Eaux to the west.  All have interesting features and history such as the Eglise de Notre-Dame (12th century) at Neufchatel and the Eglise Saint Hildevert (12th century) at Gournay. Forges-les-Eaux is renowned for its spas and its Casino.

An excellent 'Chemin Vert' or Green Road has recently been opened along the disused railway line from Forges-les-Eaux almost to Dieppe (some 60km or 40m) and is appreciated by walkers and cyclists alike.

The Pays de Bray is an area that deserves to be better known particularly among tourists and visitors; its close proximity to Paris make it popular for second homes for Parisians.For UK residents and visitors it has the advantage of being only 2 hours or so from the Channel ports  of Calais and Boulogne but it is even closer to Le Havre and Dieppe.

See a Drive Through the Pays de Bray

See the other Pays of Normandy