Food Technology School Trip To Normandy

A trip to a traditional French bakery lets pupils learn about the complete process of bread making. Students can actively participate and eat in or take away what they help to create. This tour is worthwhile just for the smell alone, but there are also great opportunities to ask the baker some questions in French

Students visit a French market, bursting with delicious local produce. While they are there they have an assignment to complete. Each student is given three Euros and has to use their French-speaking skills to buy ingredients to make a cold lunch back at the château. After they have prepared the meal, it is then judged by the château’s head chef.

Tour the newly refurbished traditional Normandy Caramels factory in Isigny. A guide will take you on a tour of the room overlooking the factory floor displaying the process of soft toffee making. There will also be the chance to buy the caramel products from the souvenir shop next door. This is a good opportunity to see how the tourist industry supports the existence of local production businesses.

Asnelles is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village with a shop called Les Sablés d’Asnelles that specialises in butter biscuits. A tour of its factory will teach students the process of making these traditional biscuits and show how they are packaged and sold. The tour includes taste tests to enjoy their melt-in-the-mouth texture and buttery taste.

This is a working goat farm that allows students to see how dairy products such as milk and cheese are produced. Students can play with the goats and learn about the cheese making process. It’s a great way to find out more about the traditional produce of the area and also presents a good chance to practice language skills and develop vocabulary. The visit includes a short educational film, a talk and a cheese tasting. Visit can be conducted in French or English.

On the list of things to do in France, trying frogs’ legs and snails is near the top. After a long day the students and staff can opt for traditional frogs’ legs and snails as an accompaniment to an evening meal. This allows the adventurous students a chance to taste a traditional French delicacy that may or may not taste like chicken!

This quality artisan chocolaterie close to Deauville allows students an insider view into how chocolate is made and why it tastes so delicious. A master chocolatier gives a historical and geographical account of the chocolate making process. There is a demonstration of chocolate being moulded  and chocolate covered specialities. Students also get to test the product and there is a gift shop for present buying.

Students enjoy a demonstration of the preparation of local specialities given by a French chef. This can take place in French or English and some participation is encouraged. This is a great way to engage with the language, culture and local food.

This factory, located in Livarot, has been run by the same family since 1910 and produces three of Normandy’s best loved cheeses: Livarot, Pont l’Eveque and Normandy Camembert. Visitors can discover the different stages of cheese-making with a view of the casting process, the maturing cellar and packaging.

On a visit to the oyster beds in Normandy, students can try what may be their first taste of oyster and observe farming and fishing techniques along the coast. The trip is a chance to compare and contrast the industries of the land against those of the sea, and educate the palate.

Tip: ‘Special’ oysters are the meatiest, while ‘fine’ have less meat.

Mont Saint-Michel, a gothic Benedictine abbey, is perched on a rocky islet amid vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides. Over the years the island’s abbey has served as a prison, a fortress against the English and a monastery. As well as the abbey, your group can explore the medieval buildings of the village that grew up beneath its walls, along with stunning views.

Take a trip along the Cider Route with its châteaux, manors, half-timbered houses and apple orchards. This is the heart of the zone known as the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée des Cidres du Pays d’Auge and links about 19 local producers – recognisable by the signpost Cru de Cambremer. They welcome visitors, offering a guided cellar tour and tastings.

You can choose from a range of fun and educational activities and experienced chateau staff are on hand to ensure that the students are having fun all day and night. Activities can include: archery, a blind trail walk, survival skills, initiative exercises, using various sports facilities for sporting games (such as the seasonal outdoor swimming pool), planting a tree and circus frenzy to name a few.

This long embroidered scroll is the most important relic to survive from the 11th century. Students can see the epic story of William of Normandy’s conquest of England in 1066, and consider the French and British interpretation of events. Tip: A workbook is available in French for MFL students. A workspace can be pre-booked for one hour for school groups with a replica tapestry image.

This spy-themed adventure is based around Elise Leclair, a lady in her eighties who is proud to have served as a messenger for the French resistance during the war, has set a challenge for students visiting Normandy. Students collect ‘intelligence’ throughout different venues across the region and discover beautiful historical sites such as Bayeux, Arromanches, the Mont St Michel and the Normandy American Cemetery. This quest can be designed to fit your own itinerary. Enrichment or MFL version available.

Take a fascinating trip to a working apple farm that makes apple juice, cider, and the famous Calvados. An interesting talk and tour enables students to appreciate what it takes to get juice from the blossom to the glass. See what goes on in the cellar, the orchard and the apple processing plant. The pretty rural setting makes this a relaxing and fun excursion.

Learn the secrets of production in the Apple-press and Fermentation room and the Art of Distillation. This multi-sensory visit is designed to promote the product and the history of the region and is suitable for all ages. The visit concludes at the Taste Bar where an expert will explain the art of tasting using the eye, the nose and the palate.

A must-do for any visitor to Normandy with a sense of adventure and appetite for local delicacies, a trip to the Odon Snail Farm offers an opportunity to discover the uniquely French tradition of snail farming from field to fork. A guide will walk you through each area of the farm, from the workshop and parks to the laboratory, before offering your group a chance to taste the escargots for yourselves.