This village was built in the hollow of a fertile valley, supplied with water by the Orbiquet, a tributary of the Touques. Of inspiration to Debussy, who composed “Jardins sous la pluie" there, Racine also chose this village of Auge as a setting for his play “Les Plaideurs”.

Orbec was the largest and most populous Viscounty and Bailiwick of all Normandy in the 16th century. The town still retains a few architectural signs of this eminent past: several timber-frame medieval houses and the carved stones of the town houses.

On his way through Orbec, the King stayed at the Manoir de l'Engagiste. "Until just before the Revolution, the King’s house was inhabited by the estate’s “engagiste” or his representative". The “engagiste” was "the person to whom the management of the Viscounty of Orbec was granted in return for payment. The upkeep of the covered market and the other market places, such as the castle and the prison, were his responsibility". "From 1558 to 1697, the Estrées family became the contractor, in the person of Jean, then his son Antoine and, finally, his grandson, Alphonse-Henry of Montluc, the nephew of the famous Gabrielle d'Estrées.