There are now more than 60 breweries in Northern France – it’s a profession that becomes a vocation. Hence the vast growth in the choice of tipples.

Are there secrets to brewing that they guard closely between them?

Dried hops embellishing the ceiling, cosy wooden seating, glasses tinkling, froth tickling lips – it’s a very French scene. You could almost believe you’re attending a wine tasting. But in Esquelbecq, a picturesque Flanders village, it’s tankards that bring visitors pouring in. Here, Daniel Thiriez – one of the first to exchange his office suit for an artisan brewer’s garb – opens the doors of his micro-brewery for a one-hour guided tours.
There are now more than 50 breweries in Northern France – it’s a profession that becomes a vocation. Hence the vast growth in the choice of tipples.
Flavour and its subtle variations are a life’s work, according to Daniel. And so I can’t help but ask him: what are his brewing secrets’ ?
Daniel smiles. ‘Beer is water, malt, hops and yeast. All natural ingredients – no witchcraft. Five simple steps that anyone can do.’
The personality of a particular beer is like the signature dish of a French chef: it reflects the brewer’s personal touch, their sensibility, their whole life experience… So it’s goodbye to tasteless lagers: beer is all the rage, whether it’s IPA (India Pale Ale) – which is very hoppy and hence bitter –maturer strong pale or ‘keeping’ ales, fruit and even organic beers. As for the flavours: toast, hazelnuts, raspberries, cloves… It all depends on the brewer’s sensibility and tastes.

Combined, these factors create a whirlwind of gustatory pleasures. Mineral salts, cereals and nutrients compose the basis; if it’s not filtered out, the yeast adds vitamin B, which is rare in other foods. And with it being so natural, it’s not unreasonable to suppose that beer might be good for the health (when consumed in moderation, of course).

La Ferme du Vinage Near Lille

This working dairy farm is a fantastic place for a family day out in France. Michel and Marie Thérèse (the friendly owners) – part of a family of dairy farmers going back ten generations – show-case their expertise and produce to families each Saturday at 5pm and will welcome you with open arms. Visits are free, but advance booking is essentila as places are limited.  
During the one-hour tour, you will watch milking in progress, get the chance to stroke calves, and see around 20 kinds of cheese, as well as cream, fromage blanc, butter and yogurt, being made. You can also taste the farm’s cheese and charcuterie. Alternatively, the farm shop is open from Monday to Saturday, as is the children’s play area.

Other great places to take the kids for tastings are the cheese cellars/shops in Lille itself (La Cave des Fromages) and in nearby Arras (La Finarde).

Other Things to Do in Lille with Kids

Don’t miss the city’s free zoo, the Natural History Museum or the summer puppet theatre. But most of all, make sure to sample some famous Lille waffles at Méert  – one of France’s oldest patisse-ries, open since 1761.

Places to Stay and Eat In and Around Lille

La Verdière - Les Ifs is an airy six-person gîte just 8km from Lille, with a cosy fireplace and lovely tree-filled grounds to explore. Estaminet Au Vieux de la Vieille on a cobbled lane in Lille’s Old Town welcomes family with warm, traditional decor and typical northern French dishes, including child-friendly croquettes, gratins and crêpes.

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What is art deco?

Born in France, art deco began in 1908, but it’s progress was interrupted by WW1. In 1925, the style was consecrated at the international exhibition of decorative arts in Paris, it was to fizzle out in the 1930s. Art deco is a merging of art of various influences: antiquity, cubism, the arts of Africa and the Far East.

Art deco – not just a style, a way of life

Saint-Quentin, listed town of Art and History, is the perfect town for immersing yourself in the cultural heritage of France. After WW1, it was the beginning of the roaring twenties. Saint-Quentin, which needed restoration and had a desire to break with the past, turned to modernism, purity of forms and reinforced concrete. The genre of art deco is beautifully represented in the town’s streets with outstanding buildings such as the Post Office with its grand hall, Le Carillon Cinema, the lanterns of the Pont d’Isle and the Conservatoire de Musique et de Théâtre. There are about 3,000 art deco facades in Saint-Quentin! Go to rue de le Sellerie, you’ll find all the art deco trends in Saint-Quentin are there.

French cuisine and French savoir-faire

Foodies will love Saint-Quentin’s friendly café lifestyle - there are loads of superb restaurants and bars that the locals are proud to share with you. Gastronomy truly is at the heart of cultural holidays in northern France.
Enjoy a lunch at restaurant Villa d’Isle in a charming 18th century building with a light and airy art deco interior (reservation in advance is essential).
To plunge into the French savoir-faire, take a break at the retro café Les Biscuits Mademoiselle, inside a traditional biscuit factory, where the music and style transport you back to the roaring twenties. The cakes and biscuits made with local artisan products will make you sigh with happiness.

French Market

On Wednesday and Saturday mornings, the city centre market adds a buzz to the day and a chance to shop for scrumptious French delicacies and local produce.

Relax in a chateau-style B&B

Stay at the 18th century Hotel des Cannoniers (Gunners), it’s a chateau-style B&B in the heart of Saint-Quentin with cosy rooms and a warm welcome. It’s the perfect place to relax.

Things to do in Saint-Quentin

On the edge of the imposing and magnificent central Place is the ancient Hotel de Ville with its 173 statues representing scenes of life in the town in the middle ages, and inside, a very impressive art deco interior. Atop it is a bell tower that was rebuilt in the 18th century, a carillon of 37 bells make for a marvellous musical backdrop to life in Saint-Quentin. Close by enjoy a coffee break at L’Artisanes where the mouth-watering choice of coffees are chosen by Elodie Courtin, a finalist in the best coffee roasters of France competition.
No visit would be complete without admiring the Gothic Basilica of Saint Quentin which can be seen from miles around, bigger even than the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Building of it began in the 12th century but much of it dates to the 15th century and it is the burial place of Saint Quentin after whom the town is named. A particular peculiarity to note is the frame of the basilica - made of reinforced concrete.

The Isle Marshes: probably a source of inspiration for reconstruction

The architects living in Saint Quentin, may have been inspired by the Isle marsh for some of their achievements. They transposed natural elements such as water, fire and wind on the facades of buildings. Part of the marshes of Isle is classified as a nature reserve, they are best visited by bacôve (a flat-bottomed boat).

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It’s a careful balance of a palatial yet intimate ambience with a professional yet personal service.
14 elegant guest rooms and 4 spacious suites all boast a rich individual décor and the level of comfort your luxury weekend break demands. If you can bear to detach yourself from robe, slippers and garden view, sink into armchairs in the salon de lecture or the bar. You’re in good company: former guests Racine, Napoléon and Christian Dior have all done just that.

Gateway to Champagne country

Outside, a beautiful terrace, formal gardens and pool give way to picturesque grounds and woodlands, with stand-out images (the perfectly-aligned plane trees reflected in the canal is one such) providing lasting shared memories. Head beyond the château gates too, as there’s a whole new world of rural bliss to explore, here on the edge of the Champagne region. Savour a less frantic pace of life on your romantic weekend break and expect frequent pausing for vineyard views, quiet French villages and dégustations - meeting local producers on the way. Back on track, you’ll savour these precious moments together for a long time to come.

Younger kids will especially love seeing the fish in the tropical lagoon being fed, watching the acro-batic high jinks of the Californian sea lions, and visiting Penguin Beach. Meanwhile, children aged around 7–12 will adore the shark aquarium with its feeding sessions and the touch pool where they can caress stingrays who come to outstretched hands in search of cuddles!

Other things to do in France near Boulogne

After enjoying Nausicaa with grandchildren, discover the rest of Boulogne with its many indoor and outdoor activities for children. Picnic on the sandy beach or feast on mussels and chips for less than £15. Watch the fishing boats return to the harbour and buy fresh seafood from fishermen’s stalls. Discover Boulogne’s old town, steeped in history, including the castle and the cathedral with its atmospheric crypt. Hire bikes and take a gentle bike ride to the Grand Site des Deux Caps nature reserve for views back to the English coast. And take a trip to La Fromagerie Pas de Calais – Ferme du Vert to buy cheese direct from the farm. You can also spend the night here in rural bliss – the Grande Suite sleeps up to five.

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The area, designated a biosphere reserve by UNESCO, has been cultivated into a floating market garden, and it’s the only one of its kind in France. Walk the Marais’ paths and buy direct from the growers as you meander.

Admire the Marais’ acres of earth, water and sky

There’s something about the triumvirate nature of the Marais’ make-up that means this is not only a place of great beauty between earth, water and sky, but also one with ever-changing light and colours. Relax to the sounds of nature and enjoy the 450 species of plant, 230 types of bird and 26 of fish this region has to offer.

Walk, cycle, or perhaps take to the 700km of waterways in a canoe, a motor boat or one of the Marais’ historical long wooden boats – a ‘bacove’ or an ‘escute’. You can celebrate their heritage by visiting one of the only remaining boatmakers too.

Where to stay in Saint Omer?

Frédéric Stopin is a market gardener and host to one of the most tranquil accommodation options in the region: the Peniche Hollandaise. It comes with a relaxation guarantee ; a calm and rural environment, the sound of lapping water to lull you to sleep but only a short walk from the centre of St Omer. We think you’ll also love eating your home-cooked breakfast – with Frédéric’s speciality jams - on your wooden terrace.

And – although we’re loathe to burst that bubble of peace – you may want to visit Ferme du Milou in Tatinghem, a French cheese farm just outside St Omer for some healthy local produce. The milk from the cows makes their Batistin cheese – it takes 10 litres of the white stuff to make 1kg of cheese! – so let Flore delight you with her welcome and savoir-faire. Buy cheese there or at the Marché de Saint-Omer on Saturday mornings.

Other haven of peace: Les Hortillonnages in Amiens. The area is used for a mix of gardening, fishing, nature observation and rest.
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Enjoy ‘Longe-côte’ - for a healthy body, healthy mind

There’s only one thing better than being by the sea and that’s being in the sea. And here’s a unique brand of outdoor activity that gives a whole new meaning to coastal walking: ‘longe-côte’. Wetsuited and chest-deep, longe-côters wade through the sea – sometimes with oars or arm paddles - in snake formation, reaping not only the physical health benefits of seawater (boosting the skin, immunity and the cardio-respiratory system) but the mentally therapeutic ones too – seawater is the ultimate mood-enhancer.  And here’s your opportunity to chat to a local:  dynamic Thomas Wallyn at ‘Longe’Up’ in Zuydcoote – who originally came up with the concept of Longe-Côte - will gladly show you the ropes (in English!).

Enjoy French cuisine - Where to eat and sleep in Dunkirk

Skin still tingling, nothing justifies a refuelling feast more than all this energising. For fish and French favourites plus a contemporary decor, Comme Vous Voulez exudes the French touch or try mussel-specialist Roi de la Moule for seafood savoir-faire. Sea-foodies should also seek out a menu with super-fresh, refreshingly inexpensive, locally-caught lobster: eking the delicate and flavoursome meat from the claws is an adventure in itself. Round off your weekend at restaurant-with-rooms au or treat yourselves to the 4*Hotel-Borel for your celebration of togetherness. There’s nothing like sea air for a good night’s sleep.

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One of France’s largest forests, today the Forest of Compiègne is a tranquil oasis, perfect for a relaxed escape. And yet, a glade of this royal hunting ground was once the very centre of the world as the setting for momentous events.

Popular with walkers, cyclists and horse riders, the Compiègne Forest covers almost 40,000 acres that are criss-crossed by over 1,000km of roads, paths and trails. Linking idyllic hidden villages, the Château de Pierrefonds, restored by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, and Compiègne itself, this lush forest has long been a favourite destination for kings, emperors and commoners alike. However, this peaceful, relaxing escape from the pressures of the 21st-century can also lay claim to having witnessed two of the most momentous events of the last century. And November 2018 will see the centenary of the Compiègne Forest’s most famous moment in the spotlight of history.

The Armistice

Perhaps it would have been more fitting for the representatives of the two great armies to have marched out into the Western Front’s no man’s land for the ceremony that brought the ‘war to end all wars’ to an end. For the very document itself to bear witness to the destruction wrought across northern France over the preceding four years of cataclysmic war.
Instead, the location for the signing of the Armistice, was altogether more tranquil. Albeit the event itself was no less momentous. At 5am on the morning of November 11, 1918, a quiet railway siding in a clearing of the Compiègne Forest, some 90km north-east of Paris, saw the leaders of the warring powers assemble in a railway carriage, part of Allied supreme commander Ferdinand Foch’s private train, to witness the ceremony that would silence the guns of the Great War six hours later at 11am.

The second chapter

To be witness to one such momentous event would certainly have secured the Compiègne Forest’s place in history. However, less than a quarter of a century later, the world’s eyes would once again focus on this ancient forest.
In altogether more desperate circumstances, on June 22, 1940, a fleet of swastika-bedecked cars bearing Adolf Hitler and his German High Command swept into the clearing. After taking time to contemptuously study the inscription on the WW1 Alsace-Lorraine monument, with its talk of a defeated Germany, the Fuhrer clambered aboard the self-same Wagons-Lits carriage to take the surrender of France; the orchestrated theatre of the event and setting not lost on those present.
Never one to miss the historic significance of his actions, Hitler ordered the destruction of the Armistice site, and arranged the carriage’s transfer to Berlin, where it was lost in the chaos of April 1945.

Compiègne today

Today the peaceful beauty of the Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest stands in stark contrast to its role in history. As the centenary of the end of World War One approaches there has surely been no better time to visit this remarkable place? To reflect on the events the forest bore witness to. To feel the very breathe of history.
Ahead of the centenary celebrations the site has benefitted from a programme of expansion and redevelopment and is set to reopen to the public this spring.
Visitors can explore an identical railway carriage, from the same train, now showcased in a setting that alternately immerses visitors in the hours of dawn and dusk. Originally installed at the site in 1950, having been refurbished to the exact specification of the one destroyed in Germany, it is the centrepiece of the newly-expanded museum dedicated to the events that took place here. With a new 3D screening room and an exhibition room dedicated to the aviator Georges Guynemer, the museum gives a fascinating insight into

the events that linked the two armistices. Alongside the rebuilt monuments, the overall effect is one of pure historic symbolism; the tranquillity adding to the mythology. 

Your perfect base

In the heart of the Compiègne Forest is the medieval village of Saint Jean aux Bois, where you will find the Auberge A la Bonne Idée, a three-star hotel and restaurant. Close to the 750-years-old ‘Saint-Jean’ oak, said to be the oldest tree in the forest, guests of A la Bonne Idée can saviour the very finest French cuisine, courtesy of Michelin-starred Chef Yves Giustinani. A constantly changing menu, to take advantage of the fresh market produce, is certain to satisfy hungry travellers after a day exploring the Compiègne Forest.

Armistice centenary events

Alongside the national commemorations on November 11, with all their pomp and ceremony, there are many other events planned to mark the centenary of the end of WW1. For example, well known specialist cycling guide Carl Ooghe, of Cycling the Western Front, is planning a cycle-tourism event starting at the armistice museum. As carl explains: “On October 31 we hope to gather 150-200 participants who will start at the for a stage from Compiegne to Beauvais.  The next day we will bring the cyclists from Beauvais to Arras where on November 2 we will climb the Vimy Ridge to arrive at Ypres in the evening.”

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“The phrase ‘higher ground’" could be misleading,” explains Carl. “In the context of Flanders any terrain that rises to 60 m or more was of great military value. Cycling gives the tourists a much better understanding of the geography of the old battlefields. Not only as one has to push harder to get to Hill 60, Vimy, Thiepval, Verdun or the Vosges, but even more so because I stop at carefully selected spots where one can appreciate what were commanding views in the age before satellites.”
Of the more well-known ‘official’ routes, the Remembrance Trail is a marked route through the Somme Battlefields linking the towns of Albert and Péronne, and is perfect to explore on two wheels. Taking in many graveyards, sites of particular significance, such as the Lochnagar Crater, the Somme 1916 Museum in Albert and the huge Thiepval Memorial that commemorates more than 72,000 men of British and South African forces who died in the Somme sector, the Trail is both a perfect introduction to the history of WW1, and at around 100km is easily explored by less experienced cyclists over a long weekend.
The Somme region is perfect for an introduction to cycling and remembrance. As Carl enthuses: “Riding the rolling fields of the Somme on a nice day with a gentle breeze is what makes me feel that my job isn’t really working! The Somme country roads are almost deserted, but the surface is in good condition for both road or commuter bikes. So, it is both safe and pleasant.”

Cycling has also long been the perfect excuse for a spot of dining! Well… the calories burnt on the road need to be replaced somehow, and where better than France, the home of fine food, to recharge? Favourite spots are the Auberge de la Vallée d'Ancre in Authuille, close to Albert. This country inn serves highly-regarded classical and modern French food to its loyal clientele. And if you truly wish to combine a memorable day with unforgettable food, then L'Aubergade, in Dury, is worth a detour. Here chef Éric Boutté works his magic – expect unforgettable classic French cooking served as you would expect from a restaurant boasting a star from that other great traveller’s institution, The Michelin Guide.
Tours such as Carl’s are perfect for visitors, young and old alike. In fact, the majority of Carl’s guests are a similar age to him, in their mid-50s to mid-60s. “An active vacation is what they are after,” says Carl. “Most have taken bike holidays before in the UK or along the Danube or Canal de Midi, or they are here for the Tour de France and want to visit the Somme. Riding the routes of the Western Front seems like an interesting offer because they can combine their favourite hobby and learn more about history! For some it is the only way to get their partner to give the green light; or even better to join them on this tour!”

Carl’s last point is insightful: many people struggle to find holidays that successfully combine differing passions and activities. However, a WW1-focused tour can include so much more. Cycling off the beaten track has always been a special way to discover a region’s secrets as well as its treasures. The Somme region is rich in heritage, the 13th-century Amiens Cathedral, for example, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was described by writer John Buchan’s fictional WW1 spy Sir Richard Hannay as ‘the noblest church that the hand of man ever built only for God’. Its architecture renowned the world over.
And cycling these days rarely means ‘roughing it’! If you are drawn to Amiens, the city of Jules Verne, the five-star rated Hotel Marotte, with its 12 luxuriously appointed rooms, makes the perfect base for visitors in need of luxury after their day’s two-wheeled exertions.
The active nature of a visit by bicycle, the solemnity of the events recalled, and the majestic nature of the many memorials is, for many, an ideal combination of experiences. Educating, rewarding and physically demanding. Truly an experience to remember.

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