Le Valdécie can be discovered through tangible evidence of its church and local history: the parish church of Notre-Dame de Le Valdécie was first mentioned in 1103 in a confirmation of the possessions of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Abbey. The church’s only visible medieval relic is the west portal with its carved foliate capitals; it may date from the 14th century.
Those who choose Le Valdécie as a holiday destination may wish to rent a holiday apartment there.
Culture
The historian Jean de Launoy is associated with Le Valdécie; he was born here on 21 December 1603 and was also known as Johanni Launoii Constantiensis. He was nicknamed the “debunker of the saints” and questioned the historical basis of the biographies of Catholic saints. Voltaire counted Jean de Launoy among the philosophers of the age of Louis XIV.
The presbytery of Le Valdécie is a group of buildings arranged around a courtyard, comprising a dwelling house, a cider press, a barn, a rear wing and a well. The associated cider press retains important original structural features, including a socket for the end of the “Princeux” and a vertical shaft anchored in a beam for storing the wheels of the pounding mechanism. A late-medieval limestone Virgin and Child has been classified as a movable historic monument since 1980.
Today, only isolated old stones remain of the Manoir de Gouix, the manor house of the third fief of Le Valdécie. The Gouy or Gouix fief was one quarter of a knight’s fee and also extended over the parishes of Saint-Pierre-d’Arthéglise and Saint-Jean-de-la-Rivière.
Landscape
The road from Bricquebec to Portbail crosses Le Valdécie from north to south between Pont Saint-Paul and Croix Pelletier. The land continues to be used predominantly as pasture, partly because of the clay-rich soils, the numerous watercourses and the frequently pronounced slopes.
The Scye forms the northern boundary of Le Valdécie and, after a 26.6-kilometre course, flows into the Douve near Magneville. The 2.3-kilometre-long Renon stream runs through several municipalities and forms the western boundary of Le Valdécie. During heavy rain, the Scye can overflow its banks near Pont Saint-Paul, temporarily creating the impression of a small inland sea.
The Abbaye Notre-Dame de Grâce monastery is located in the immediate vicinity of Le Valdécie. In the wider regional area are Plage de Sciotot beach, the Artothèque de Cherbourg museum, Plage du Platé beach, Fort du Roule fort, Cap de Carteret cape, Abbaye Saint-Trinité de Lessay monastery and Plage Napoléon beach.
Other places from the same selection: Carquebut, Morville, Le Mesnil-Rogues, Le Loreur, Juvigny-Le-Tertre, Brécey, Champeaux, Saint-Pierre-D'arthéglise
