Tucked away in Gallica, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, are a handful of holiday photograph albums. One remembers a group of friends who set off from Paris in 1902, heading for the sunny beaches and pretty orchards around Yport. By the look of it they had a very good time. Born 100 years later these carefree people would have been Instagram stars.
May all our holidays be as jolly. Bon vacances!
Corset free and crazy, at Yport
Stylish swimming at Yport
The unimpressed locals
Shrimping
Elegant tree pose fail (do check out the dog’s face, bottom left)
Excellent Parisian posing
Suspect the ladies have discovered the calvados…
Gite life problems – water on the blink, washing hair in a bowl…
Hats, corsets, multiple ruffles … nothing is getting in the way of a good time
'Groupe de 6 baigneuses dansant en ligne sur une plage a Deauville' say the notes with this charming old photograph, 'Group of 6 bathers dancing in a line on Deauville beach'. Five of these young ladies have sleek swimming costumes and their hair is controlled with neat little turbans. The sixth dancer is going her own…
‘Muguet Porte Bonheur!’ ‘Lilies of the Valley bring good luck!’ so shout the street sellers of this pretty scented flower. They are sold a little more quietly in the Carrefour but are no less lucky for that. Flowers fit for a king The celebration of spring around 1 May is as old as time itself…
Up on the hill above Arromanches-les-Bains we looked down on the bay that became known as Gold Beach on 6 June 1944. We were matching a postcard of four survivors, soldiers who had arrived on D-Day. We know the photo was taken shorty after D-Day as the Mulberry Harbours, essential for landing provisions, are not yet…
We have been amazed and delighted by the amount of interest Normandy Then and Now has received since launching at the beginning of 2014, thank you! Looking at the numbers (thanks to Ian our sponsor!) we have discovered your 5 favourite posts of the year. From the top these are: A Frenchman’s home is his castle,…
Our most popular posts in 2015 included stories of medieval knights, WW2 bravery, rejected Kings, writers seeking inspiration and mad hatters. In reverse order they are: 5) Becoming Zola, in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer "If you fancy writing a gritty, realistic novel that doesn’t hold back revealing the murkier underbelly of human nature, try a holiday in charming Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on the northern coast…
Hello! Welcome to Normandy Then and Now. We are touring Normandy with a bundle of bewitching vintage postcards aiming to match each view. Led by these carte postale, found in brocantes from Calais to Cherbourg, our travels are uncovering lots of: hidden histories beautiful art stunning architecture wonderful food fascinating stories (and salacious gossip!) All from the unique French…
Rabbit and poultry vendors First published 2017 Today our midweek photo post comes from the small farming community of Cressy in Seine Maritime. Our guest blogger Gertrude Käsebier visited in 1894, while an art student in Paris. Her unique photographs of Normandy country life reveal a world now long lost, a time just before the…
During 1937, just before the outbreak of WW2, the Touring Club of France went on an expedition to see the beautiful manor houses of Calvados, in Normandy. Happily for us they took a camera and recorded these grand old houses, including at least one that has now been lost forever. Lets join the Club on their…
Taken between between 1890 and 1900, these photochrom images of Honfleur are at once familiar yet remote. We recognise buildings but can only envy the photographer who saw a steam ship dock by the Chenin Blanc hotel, or took a horse drawn carriage ride past la Lieutenance. Photochrom, a method of adding colour to black and…
Interior of a Manor in the Cotentin and costumes of the rural bourgeoisie from around 1840 There are very old postcards we have seen of serious faced ladies posing stiffly in their Sunday finery, lace bonnets defying gravity and all sense. These are authentic photos of country folk from the early years of the 20th…
