Sgt Eagle
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Normandy
A land of hedgerow enclosures
Even if the main attraction in the Park is the marshlands, most of the park covers the undulating bocage, a mixture of woodlands and pasturelands cut by low humid valleys, that is typical in Western France. The regular enclosures are bordered by embankments and hedgerows, where regular plots are edged with cropped or trimmed alignments of trees. The bocage was been built up from the Middle Ages until the last century. The hedges at the time were important economic assets. They served as fences, property borders and also provided wood, fodder, fruit and cover for game. Because of the deep changes in agricultural practices, the bocage is disappearing and recently, Dutch elm disease deprived the countryside of a popular tree that used to be the principal components of the hedges in the Plain and Bessin areas. Science is now discovering the multiple benefits of hedgerows as windbreaks and protection against erosion and many farmers have started restoring this traditional heritage. The bocage is also the sunken tree-lined pathways connecting the farms, manors and castles whose roofs peek out over the hedge tops.
Les marais du Cotentin et du Bessin
Peat.
Ten-thousand years ago, the land was scarred by deep valleys with meager vegetation growing along the valley walls. The valleys were then overrun by saltwater which dug out a system of inlets. The sand at the mouth of the Veys Bay built up progressively into sand bars that finally dammed off the entrance to the bay Upstream, freshwater was now retained and an aquatic ecosystem developed with aquatic mosses, water lilies, bulrushes, sedges, etc. Plants do not readily decompose in these stagnant, oxygen-poor waters. The dead plants build up on the bed of the bay and in time form peat. The peat formation process is slow, taking up to 5,000 years. Three hundred years ago, human activities began affecting development of the marshlands. The first land was cleared around the wetlands permitted erosion. Minerals were conveyed to the valleys by runoff of rainwater stopping the peat formation process. Yet, in some still areas preserved from this, peat is being produced to this day.
Water control.
During the time the bridges and dikes were being built, four massive flood gates were placed at the mouths of the Douve, the Taute, the Vire et the Aure to keep out sea water. The doors are closed at rising tide and opened when the tide is out to discharge freshwater. In winter, when there are heavy rains, the flood gates cannot be opened long enough to discharge all the fresh water and it backs up into the marshes forming an immense lagoon. This wetlands attracts a multitude of wintering birds. When spring comes, huge prairies cover the valley floors. There is still water, but it is channeled into an elaborate network of rivers, channels, ditches and pools that cover several hundred hectares. The 25,000 ha of inland wetlands boast an incredible wealth of wildlife. Birds find the food and calm they need to survive breed. The marshes are also home to carnivorous plants. The Drosera, or sundew rounds out its diet with insects that it catches with sticky tentacles and hairs.
A natural balance.
The continued ecological value of the Cotentin and the Bessin wetlands is dependent on the extensive hay-mowing and grazing practiced here. Without the farmers and their activities, the prairies and peat bogs would grow into willow and birch forests and the environment would gradually dry out.
La voie de la liberté
The "freedom road" is the path taken by the American troops led by General Patton on their way to liberate France in 1944. It has two starting points, la Plage de la Madeleine, code named Utah Beach, and Sainte-Mère-Église, the first town liberated from the Germans by American troops airlifted into France. Both paths converge on Carentan. The museums in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont and Sainte-Mère-Église, and the German Cemetery at la Cambe and Orglandes are testimony to this difficult period.
Recollections of bygone time
The marshes, moors and forests, long so forbidding and difficult to cross, have fed the imagination of many. Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808-1889), the Norman novelist and critic, drew inspiration from the area around Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, La Haye-du-Puits and Lessay, particularly for L'Ensorcelée and Un pretre marié. They use the dramatic combination of barren lands and the ignorance of those who tried to eke out their living there—who could still be seen only several years ago in the renowned wilds of the Lande de Lessay. Some images of the past disclose a rude period where every action was for one thing only, to find enough bread for the day. Some young children were sent into the marshes to catch leeches to sell to the apothecaries. Yet, this day to day struggle forged strong bonds between the swamp dwellers and their "vain and vague" lands.
Ochre and reds
Traced back to the 18th century, the "bauge" technique of clay and straw construction reached its peak in the 19th century throughout the Cotentin and Bessin marshlands. It was used to build homes, which because of their structural qualities, esthetics and decorative diversity are now an integral part of the region's heritage. The material of construction was a mixture of clay and plant fibers (straw, hay or other) that was painstakingly trampled until completely mixed. The clay was often mined from a nearby marsh. Once most of the water has evaporated it was piled to a height of about 60 cm with a pitchfork. The next layer was laid once the first layer had hardened. The local earth provides a rich palette of colors, from light gray to carmine red and ochre.
Pasture lands
Stock raising started moving into the marshlands in the 18th century, since the best bocage lands nearby were reserved for farming. Because of the salt marshes around the Veys Bay and the local pottery making industry, the farmers could preserve and export their only "cash crop," salt butter. It was from the combination of bocage and marsh that the first commercial dairy industry was born.
Dairy products second to none
The high mineral content and the abundance of trace elements in the dairy products won this area an official AOC "vintage" label in 1986. lsigny has long been synonymous with country butter, rich cream and tasty cheeses and now about 80% of the park lands can put the coveted AOC seal of quality on their products.
Sgt Eagle
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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