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Le Bec-Hellouin
Le Bec-Hellouin, in the Eure, is a village of the Bec valley, around the abbey of Notre-Dame du Bec. It was founded in 1034 by Herluin, a knight converted to monastic life, and became in the Middle Ages an important intellectual and spiritual centre.
A community of Benedictine monks still lives there and leads guided visits. The conventual buildings are organised around a seventeenth-century cloister, and the Saint-Nicolas tower, a fifteenth-century bell tower, dominates the whole. The monks make ceramics and candles, sold at the abbey shop.
The village, abundantly flowered, is known for its quiet streets lined with half-timbered houses. It is among the Most Beautiful Villages of France. It is visited on foot, at the same time as the abbey, and lends itself to walks in the neighbouring countryside.
