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IN PICTURES: Discover the Normandy village crowned France’s ‘favourite’

Every year the French are asked to choose their favourite village from a selection of 14. Here's a look at this year's winner - a stunning coastal beauty in the north west of France.

Published: 27 June 2019 11:40 CEST
IN PICTURES: Discover the Normandy village crowned France's 'favourite'
Photo: Manche Departement/Twitter
Viewers of the programme “Le Village préféré des Français” on France2 are asked each year to decide on their favourite village in France out of a selection of 14 contenders.
 
This year Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, with 1,779 inhabitants in the La Manche department of Normandy has been crowned favourite.  
 
READ ALSO:
 
“I do not know if it will be the favorite village of the French but what I already know is that it is the most beautiful!” Yves Villeneuve, the village butcher, told Le Parisien before he found out the good news. 
 
And the result clearly went down well with the locals, known as Saint-Vaastais. Check out the video in the tweet below which shows the moment they found out their village was the country's favourite
 

 

Located on the east coast of the Cotentin, the village of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue in north west France is described as a land of sailors, and at low tide, the oyster beds provide a link between the French mainland and another jewel: the island of Tatihou, a unique point of view for painters for more than two centuries.

The traditional Norman boats in the harbour and the picturesque narrow streets, as well as a path to the lighthouse make Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue a wonderful place to visit. 
 

 
The village's famous oysters are sold in France as well as exported.
 
Saint-Vaast is the Norman name of Saint Vedast and Hougue is a Norman word meaning a 'mound' or 'loaf', which comes from the Old Norse word haugr.
 
The village is also home to the Tour Vauban de La Hougue (see photo below) which stands at the entrance to the small harbor and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
 
 

 
And if you do pay a visit to this year's 'favourite village' you are unlikely to be the only tourist in town, with popular hotels, restaurants and campsites dotted around the village, which has been designated with the official title of 'tourist town' since April 2017. 
 
On top of that, the winner of the title of France's favourite village normally sees the winner benefit from an influx of visitors the following year so the Saint-Vaastais can look forward to a busy year.
 
Map: Google
 
Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue succeeds Cassel, a village just a few minutes drive from the Belgian border, which won the title last year.
 
Previously the winners have been concentrated in Brittany, Alsace in the east and Occitanie in the south west.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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