Parc Olhain theme Park between Calais and Arras

 

Within easy reach of the UK just a short hop across the Channel, Northern France is perfect for family weekend breaks among parents looking to combine fun activities in the open air with relaxation, culture and French art de vivre including great food based on seasonal regional produce. Just an hour from the Channel ferry port, the city of Lens and its surrounding area is perfect for active families keen to spend more quality time together away from the stresses and pressures of daily life. 

 

First up is the Parc d’Olhain, extended over the villages of Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen, Maisnil-les-Ruitz and Rebreuve-Ranchicourt within a 450-hectare forest and offering outdoor activities including mountain-biking, orienteering and Nordic walking courses for all levels, along with an open-air swimming pool open in July and August, a treetop adventure course and the largest network of suspended nets in the world. But perhaps most popular is the year-round luge track, taking you downhill at speeds of up to 35/h.

 

Other enticements at this wonderful leisure park include walking paths, mini-golf, disc-golf, tennis courts, the Enchanted Village playground, and sports and picnic areas. Meanwhile, among organised activities  both outdoors and in are nature challenges featuring the likes of archery, boot-camps, fencing and sessions on the climbing wall. Come along, take in the fresh air and greenery, and allow yourselves to relax, really breathe and escape into nature as well as experiencing excitement and thrills as you exert yourselves.

 

In 2012 the mining basin of Northern France was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in recognition of its cultural importance and ranks highly in the list of the best tourist attractions in France. A landscape of plains, hills and farming villages marked by World War I history, it’s notable for its terrils or man-made hills created from mining residue. The twin terrils at Loos en Gohelle are good spots for family walks: it takes 45 minutes to climb one of these ‘black mountains’, giving you the opportunity to get some healthy exercise and be rewarded by 360° views over the mining basin.

It’s also in the mining basin that you’ll find the Louvre-Lens, an art museum created in 2012 to display objects on loan from Paris’ mighty Musée du Louvre on a medium- or long-term basis. Occupying a former mining site, the stunning contemporary building by Japanese architects SANAA working with with New York’s Imrey Culbert, French landscape architect Catherine Mosbach and museographer Studio Adrien Gardère, was partly inspired by the layout of the Louvre itself.

Families who come to the Louvre-Lens combine fun with learning, whether it’s touring the airy galleries or signing up for special activities purpose-designed for all age groups. They include sensory sessions for babies and toddlers aged nine months to two years, thematic tours for ages 2-3 years, workshops and talks for ages 4–7, and experimental sessions for ages 8–12, as well as a teen program. 

 

Food is as as important part of family holidays as the best France tourist attractions, and the Lens region is full of opportunities to enjoy wonderful local cuisine in various guises. At some local landmarks or special events you may be lucky enough to spot Friterie ‘MOMO’, a mobile chip stand in a retro-styled old caravan, iconic in the region for having appeared in the 2008 film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis! As well as feasting on its excellent chips, you can sample the speciality Fricadelle, a kind of deep-fried hot dog, along with the likes of burgers, steak tartare and pan bagnat (Niçoise tuna sandwich).

 

58 Rue de la Gare

F-62300 Lens

Tel: + 33 3 21 67 66 66

 

Parc Olhain

99, rue Paul Bert

F-62300 Lens

Tel: + 33 3 21 18 62 62

 

Rue Arthur Deletoille

F-62000 Arras

 

3 Place de la Croix Rouge 

F- 62000, Arras

Tel: + 33 3 21 71 34 01

 

220 Rue Paul Bert

F- 62300 Lens

Tel: + 33 3 9 61 63 95 57

 

220 Rue Paul Bert

F- 62300 Lens

Tel: + 33 3 61 63 95 57