Haute Normandy.

Just outside Paris, Haute-Normandy can boast an exceptional natural, cultural and historical environment. Its greatest sites are known the world over: Etretat cliffs, the house and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, the Rouen cathedral, the Normandie bridge.

Haute-Normandy was also the berth of impressionism, a style drawing its name from Impression, rising sun, a landscape painted by Claude Monet in the region. After Monet, Renoir, Pissarro or Turner were also inspired by Haute-Normandie, while the museums of Rouen and Le Havre own the largest impressionist collections outside of Orsay in Paris.

Painters could only be overwhelmed by the beauty of the region and especially its 120 kilometres of white cliffs. This high wall of white stone is peppered here and there with cosy seaside resorts like Dieppe or Etretat. Such natural wonders have led regional authorities to bid for a them to be listed as a World Heritage site.

Nature is a perfect setting for man-made marvels like the twenty abbeys built on the banks of the Seine.

Haute-Normandy remains proud of its past: Joan of Arc, Rollon or William the Conqueror left their mark on local history but the region was also home to many celebrated writers such as Cornelle, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, Maurice Leblanc or Philippe Delerm.