A brief description of St Aubin-sur-Mer
St Aubin-sur-Mer lies on the coast of Normandy in the
Départment of
Calvados, about 16 miles from Caen and a few miles from Ouistreham
where
the ferry from Portsmouth terminates.
In the 1830's St Aubin was a small fishing hamlet. By 1844, when Abbé Bossard arrived as the new parish priest, it had grown to a town of 1400 inhabitants. The new Abbé travelled extensively, even as far as Great Britain, raising funds to build the fine steepled church which is the town's landmark to this day. When Napoleon Bonaparte formally granted St Aubin township, it was Abbé Bossard who was asked to choose the first mayor. At that time the town was still exclusively inhabited by fishermen and their families. However towards the end of the 19th century it became the fashion for city dwellers to go to the seaside and the town grew substantially as wealthy visitors began to build summer residences.
St Aubin-sur-Mer has close connections with the Normandy D-Day landings of 1944, being at the eastern end of Juno beach, where the Canadian and British forces came ashore. Several traces of the town's WW11 defences can still be seen today.Today the sandy beaches and excellent facilities make this a popular resort for family holidays. A long promenade runs by the beach nand is a popular meeting point for the towns-people,a place just to stroll or to dine-out in one of the seaside restaurants.
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