The city of Rouen is a favourite day out for both self catering and B&B guests staying at Basse Copette. Rouen is about 45 minutes away, and is easy to find and get to. And besides, there is much to do and see. But the one thing everyone sees is Le Gros-Horloge as it is set on the side of a 13th Century building that goes across the street. This is one of Europe’s oldest working clocks.

Le Gros Horloge, Rouen, one of Europe's oldest working clocks

Most people marvel at the clock and then walk on by, not knowing that they can take a tour of the clock ‘behind the scenes’, as it were. The site museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays throughout the year, but only in the afternoons (2-6pm) from November to March, and then 10am -1pm and 2-7pm from April to October.

The tour takes the visitor through the pavillion and the belfry, where you get to see the dials room, the bells chamber, and the clockmaster’s workshop and flat. From the top of the belfry you get to see an outstanding view of the city of Rouen. The audio-guided tour lasts about 40 minutes.

Now anyone who knows their French will think I have the title of this post wrong, because a clock in French is a feminine word, not a masculine one – so une horloge, not un horloge. Why Le Gros Horloge then? Quite simply because a clock was a masculine word up until the 18th Century.

The clock is on a Renaissance building in the heart of the city of Rouen, by day and by night