Monks first settled here in 1169 on land given to them by the Lord of Estouteville. Thus was founded St. Mary’s Abbey of Valmont. A haven of prayer at the foot of a hill with the sea on the far horizon and the sky for daily orison ... This is a charming retreat where Delacroix came to draw the ruins of the romantic abbey, whose walls mourned the fall of the Old Regime, from his cousin’s park.

Charmed by the green serenity of the site and by the religious tradition buried in these stones, the Benedictine monks from Lisieux purchased the property in 1994. So has been reborn the Notre-Dame-du-Pré Abbey of Valmont. As occurs at various moments in history, the spiritual rebirth has been accompanied by an architectural makeover.

The church is the masterpiece of this resurrection. Built in the late Middle Ages in a mixture of the Flamboyant Gothic and the Renaissance styles, the chancel was once a sumptuous ruin in danger of destruction.

But today, it is a luminous ode to Marian beauty: it is an invitation to share a moment of the monastic life.