Domaine Albizia is a guest house on an estate at La Vitardière, in Livry, in the Bessin west of Caen. The buildings are eighteenth century and restored, and the place was laid out by a landscape designer, which shows the moment you arrive: clipped hedges, topiary and a woven willow sphere set among outcrops of rock, with gravel paths running between them. The gardens carry the Magnifiques Jardins de France label and the estate calls them a laboratory for its own landscape work.
There are six places to sleep, each with a name rather than a number: two suites, a bedroom, a flat, a dormitory and a glasshouse fitted out for looking at the stars. There is a wellness room with a spa and a hot tub, and a table d'hôtes that also runs as a brunch and a tea room, with the desserts made in the house.
The estate does a good deal besides. Weddings and seminars, escape games, treasure hunts and murder evenings, floral and cooking workshops, bonsai days, school visits, and a coworking room. It was given a bronze tourism medal by the French ministry in 2019. Bayeux and the landing beaches are within easy reach.
