Essence of Normandie day two

Trip to Livarot Pays d’Auge

After a short trip in the coach to Livarot we arrived at Le village fromager, E Grandorge , a cheese factory where one of the authentic makers of Cheese of Pay d’Auge had begun . A tour of the factory with a cheese tasting at the end, had been arranged. On the tour I learned that it was a combination of the type of cows, in this case cows with a rather beautiful brown saddle and while belly, the Sedge grass, which they fed on, and the weather, which kept the pastures lush, that created the distinctive flavour of Livarot cheese.

Typical Herd of Livarot
Logo for Graindorge cheese

We were able to watch a couple of short films about the history of Camenbert, confined to the D’Auge region and I learned that AOC is short for “Appellation d’Origine Controlee “. After passing through areas, which were highly automated, we came to the area where the ladies were hard at work putting the cheese into moulds and scraping the tops.

Women finishing the cheese moulds

I found there were two other AOC cheeses, which were granted this distinction

The third is “Pont L’Eveque”

Once the tour was completed we were treated to a cheese tasting. There were four cheeses on the plate and we were advised to eat them clockwise, starting at 12 o’clock, which was the ”Pont L’Eveque; the one at 3pm was Camembert; the one at 6 o’clock was “Livarot”; and the one at 9 o’clock was the ”C.oeur de Bray, which I particularly enjoyed.


Cheese laid out with beautiful Cidre Pays d’Auge

After the visit to Livarot we returned to Liseux for a general explore. I’m afraid fatigue had caught up on me and I found it necessary to have a rest.