Bullecourt 1917, Jean & Denise Letaille Museum, is a small museum but therein lies its charm. You have time to read and see the very well-written stories (in both French and English) of the battles of Bullecourt and, particularly, of the soldiers who played such a tragic part in World War I in this part of Pas de Calais.

The Battles of Bullecourt

On April 11 1917, the Australian 1st Anzac Corps of the British Fifth Army attacked the Hindenburg Line, the major German defensive line of defence that ran from Arras to near Soissons on the Aisne river. The offensive was part of the attack that included the Battle of Arras (9 April to 16 May 1917) further north.

The Australian and British attack on the German position was a shambles. A lack of communication and the late arrival of tanks led to 3,289 Australian casualties, including 1,166 taken prisoner by the Germans. It was the largest number captured in a single battle during the whole of the Great War. The Germans suffered 749 casualties. 

A second battle which lasted from May 3 to 17 led to more than 7,000 Australian and 8,119 British casualties.

British divisions like the 5th (London) Division and the 62nd Division (volunteers from Yorkshire), were largely inexperienced; the 7th Division was experienced; it had been fighting in the war since 1914.

It’s not a well-known story outside the immediate area, partly because it was such a badly run campaign by the generals and partly because it gets caught up in the better known story of the Battle of Arras at the Wellington Quarry.

Bullecourt 1917 Museum and Jean Letaille

You’ll find Bullecourt 1917 located in the now renovated barn and stable that originally housed the museum. The inspiration came from the former Mayor of Bullecourt, Jean Letaille and his wife Denise. He was a farmer and over the years had discovered that his fields yielded a rich selection of wartime artifacts, of rusting machinery, old guns, helmets, barbed wire, unexploded shells, scrap metal,  bits of uniform and more…relics and reminders of the battles of World War I. 
While Jean Letaille was Mayor, he created a small museum in the Town Hall before relocating them to his barn and stable in 1995.

The Bullecourt 1917 Museum Revealed

The museum is divided into two rooms.

The Battle Room

In the middle of the long room lies a display of those relics of World War I, many of them found by Jean Letaille: rusty tank remains, mortars, boxes of shells. The story is told in panels around the room and here it becomes fascinating. 

Exhibits describe – and illustrate – everyday life at the Front which was nasty and brutish and often short. Nights were particularly hard when in the dark and cold, the stench of decaying bodies and fear of attack took over the imagination. Soldiers wrote letters, made ornaments, played cards. The sight of air battles overhead broke the monotony and bets were made on the outcome. Keen souvenir hunters took extraordinary risks to take rare objects from their enemy, and later sold them to those waiting to be called forward.  Water was brought from the rear often in drums that had held petrol…imagine the peculiar taste.

There are pictures of Australian soldiers playing pitch and toss where they threw a coin as close as possible to a given target in the sunken road near Noreuil. Others heat up tea over candles in trenches. 

You see medical equipment like a shell dressing in a canvas bag. You see images from the advanced medical station where the nurses’ lips were stained brown from using their teeth to remove the corks from bottles of antiseptic iodine tincture. And who knew that camphor or caffeine injections were used as a cardio stimulant?

It’s these small details that fascinate and make this one of the World War I museums you should put on your list. I have been retelling the story of the nurses’ brown lips with great success!

Early cemeteries were created, like the Quéant Road Cemetery in Buissy. Of the 2,377 commonwealth soldiers buried there, 1,441 bodies are still unidentified. Of the 995 Australians, only 299 are named. The search, and the story, goes on. In 1995 the remains of Sergeant John (Jack) James White were found in a field nearby and identified. He died on May 3, 1917. In 1995, 77 years after his death he was buried here. Inscribed on his gravestone are the words:  Deep Peace Of The Quiet Earth So Far From The Land That Gave You Birth.

The Tribute Room – The Dead, The Missing, The Survivors

Black and white photos line the walls of the second room with the name, fate, date of death and age below of the face that stares back at you. The Australians are in their characteristic ‘digger’ hats; others in army hats; some are bare-headed; a few are in civilian clothes. Most of them sport moustaches or small beards – it was the fashion then but it also recalls the difficulties at the front of washing and shaving in precious water. Below the photos stand cases of more war items.

Again it’s the stories behind the photos that bring home the harsh reality of war. 

Private Christopher Douglas Elphick of the Honourable Artillery Company was killed on May 15, 1917. His remains were found in a field in Bullecourt in 2009 with 8 other bodies. He was identified by a ring with his initials, and was buried at Ecoust-Saint-Mein at the HAC cemetery in 2013. There’s a picture of him and a photo with his wife and child. One of the eight buried along with him is Lieutenant John Harold Pritchard, identified by his silver identity bracelet. 

Both were discovered by Didier Guerle, an elderly farmer who unearthed one of the soldiers’ gas canisters. He dug a little deeper to remove the canister and discovered the soldiers’ remains.

It took 3 years to trace the named soldiers’ relatives after they were identified.

More surprising is the story of rifleman Léon Pageot. Born in Dijon in 1891, the young French citizen moved to London to work as a jeweller. While there he designed the Royal emblem of the Postal Service, still used today on red post boxes. Married and the father of 2 children, he entered military service in 1916 and was killed at Bullecourt on  May 21, 1917. He has no known grave.

After the Battles of Bullecourt

Bullecourt was a small village, with just 396 inhabitants in 1911. At the end of the war it was classified as being in the ‘Red Zone’ (totally destroyed) along with other nearby villages. In 1920 the inhabitants returned and began rebuilding Bullecourt as a farming village. Inevitably as the land was ploughed up, discoveries were made. 

On withdrawal from the Hindenburg Line Germans left behind booby-traps. On March 25 1917, the town hall at Bapaume was destroyed by a delayed-action bomb left by the Germans. About 30 men were sleeping in the building. 5 were brought out; 25 were killed including 9 Australians and 2 French MPs.

Memorials to the British and Australian soldiers

At the village church you’ll find the Slouch Hat memorial to the British and Australian soldiers who lost their lives at Bullecourt. Next to it is a small brick memorial dedicated to the tank crews of the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps (HBMGC) who died here. The corps was the first unit in the British Army to use tanks in combat.

Just 900 metres away on the Rue des Australiens, you’ll come across the Australian Digger Memorial Garden. This was the front line, occupied by the Australians in their attack on Bullecourt. The statue in the garden is of the ‘Bullecourt Digger’, wearing the insignias of all four Australian infantry divisions who fought in Europe. 

Two hundred metres further along, a cross stands just beside the road with a collection of individual memorial stones to the soldiers who died here.

The Australian Remembrance Trail

The ART is a 200 km (124 mile)-long commemorative trail running from Ypres in Belgium, through Fromelles, Bullecourt and Pozières to Villers-Bretonneux, east of Amiens where you’ll find the Sir John Monash Australian Centre. The trail, which includes battlefields, cemeteries, memorials, and museums, commemorates the experiences of the Australian soldiers between mid 1916 and late 1918 in France and Belgium.

More about Australians on the Western Front

More about the two World Wars in Pas de Calais

The Wellington Quarry in Arras

World War II Sites in Pas de Calais

Guide to Calais (I have to admit, one of my favourite cities).

Declaration: I travelled to France courtesy of DFDS from Dover to Calais on a self-driving press trip as a guest of Pas-de-Calais Tourisme.

More Information on Ferries to France including DFDS details.

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The Wellington Quarry Museum (La Carrière Wellington) in Arras is an exceptional, eerie place. It’s buried in the tunnels that crisscross the ground 20 metres beneath the attractive city of Arras. What you are about to experience is the story of the Battle of Arras from the beginning: the secret tunnelling, the life underground, the lead up to the battle on April 9^th, 1917 and the sad aftermath. It’s a remarkable insight into a less well-known aspect of World War I.

A Short History of The Wellington Quarry and the Battle of Arras

The battles of Verdun and the Somme in 1916 had been a disaster. So the Allied High Command decided to create a new offensive on the Vimy-Arras front.

Arras was a ghost town, continuously bombarded by German troops, smoking and in ruins. From 1916 to 1918 the town was under British command… unique in the history of World War I.

The Wellington Quarry Tunnels

The extraordinary story begins with the digging of what became an underground barracks. Chalk quarries dating back to the Middle Ages had for centuries provided the growing town with rock for the ramparts, the religious buildings and houses that were making Arras such an important city.

500 New Zealand tunnellers, mostly Maori miners, helped by Yorkshire miners called Bantams, dug 80 metres a day in two interlinking labrynths. The whole project was called Wellington by the New Zealanders; underground the tunnellers named the different sectors after their home towns. For the New Zealanders it was Nelson and Blenheim. For the British, London, Liverpool and Manchester. The work took under six months. Eventually the 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) accommodated 24,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers.

One of the greatest engineering feats of World War I, it was discovered by archaeologists in the 1990s. It must have been an extraordinary moment when they began to see the graffiti on the walls and realised the significance of the tunnels in the history of the Great War.

Setting the Scene

As you wait for the visit, there’s a chance to walk around the small exhibition that covers the lead-up to The Great War, the main areas of war, the New Zealand tunnellers and more.

Going Deep Underground

Wearing a helmet and warm clothing (it’s 11°C  down there) you descend in a lift down into the quarries with a bi-lingual guide and audio guide for the 90-minute tour. Setting the scene, you slowly descend past images of Arras as it collapses. You step out of the lift to a panoramic film bringing to life the full horror of the war on the city.

The guide takes you along the long twisting passages and past cavernous spaces roughly hewn out of the chalk.  You stop to see old films and hear long-forgotten voices on small screens that disappear into the darkness.  There’s the sound of pickaxes and it feels as if the miners are actually there with you. ‘Each man had his own war’, a solider says.

You pass by piles of rusting tins, graffiti of names, drawings of loved ones back home and prayers, and hear more voices as you round a corner and see a film flickering on the wall in front of you.

Voices Echo from the Past

‘Bonjour Tommy’ says a Frenchman against footage of civilians and soldiers chatting in the streets. ‘They do not hate the Germans. They do not insult the prisoners and are attentive to the wounded’, writes a French journalist.

You hear poems by war poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon who wrote The General.

Good morning. Good  morning” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ‘em dead,
And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.’

You hear Yorkshiremen singing On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at (which translates as On Ilkley Moor without a hat); it became the unofficial anthem of Yorkshire.

The Wellington Quarry was a small, albeit primitive barracks. The walk shows you the life of the soldiers underground, their grim or flippant humour, and their camaraderie.

A chapel, power station, light railway, communications room, a hospital in a series of rooms that could fit 700 beds and operating theatres, and a well were all built in the pale, flickering electric light. There were showers and a transmission room. On pillar 5E a film shows the last prayer service held before the attack.

The Battle of Arras Begins

Then you come to the sloping passageways that led up to the light, and for many of the young soldiers, ‘too young’ as one Frenchman said, to their death. For a few days before, the artillery had been firing at the German lines. It was 5.30am, snowing and deadly cold on April 9 Easter Monday, when the order was given to burst out of the quarries from Exit no 10.

Each year, on 9^th April at 05.30 a memorial service attended by thousands is held at the Wellington Quarry.

The Battle of Arras Continues

A film tells you the aftermath of the Battle of Arras. The initial assault was highly successful. Vimy Ridge and the village of Monchy-le-Preux were taken by General Julian Byng’s Canadian Corps Vimy Ridge. But for two days the Allied troops, on orders from above, held back. In that time the Germans, who had retreated initially, formed a new battle front and brought up reinforcements.  On Aril 11, British and Australian forces attacked around Bullecourt. Fighting continued unto May 16.

For British soldiers the average daily loss rate at Arras was the highest of the war at 4,076. Total casualties were roughly double that, with the Germans losing around the same number.

Outside The Wellington Quarry in Arras

Outside the passage leading to the Wellington Quarry there’s a memorial wall. It commemorates the infantry and cavalry units who fought in the Battle of Arras with portraits, sculptures and memorials. A large block of stone has a silhouette of a miner.

Information on the Wellington Quarry in Arras

More Information on Pas de Calais

World War II Sites in Pas de Calais
Guide to Calais
The Calais Dragon

Food of Hauts de France (which won the European Region of Gastronomy Award for 2023)

Declaration: I travelled to France courtesy of DFDS from Dover to Calais on a self-driving press trip as a guest of Pas-de-Calais Tourisme.

More Information on Ferries to France including DFDS details.

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The Pas-de-Calais region was crucial in World War II. Hitler believed that this would be the place for any invasion of France by the Allies, so it was vital to wrest control of this part of north France early in the war.

In 1940 the Germans launched their devastating attack on Calais. The Siege of Calais lasted from May 22 to 26. It was the beginning of a nightmare that lasted 4 years for the population of Calais itself and the surrounding villages and towns. 73% of old Calais was destroyed.

Map of World War II Sites in Pas-de-Calais

World War II Sites in Pas-de-Calais

Calais Memorial Museum 39-45

Start with this museum (Musée Mémoire 39-45) which tells you about Calais itself and the surrounding region in World War II.

The museum is housed in a long concrete bunker, built by the Germans after the Siege of Calais in 1940. The Marine Kommando bunker (Widerstandsnest 13) was the command post for German troops with a telephone exchange controlling the whole of the region.

It’s an evocative museum, with small rooms that originally housed the German troops and their equipment stretching down two sides of a long corridor. Each room tells a different story, covering parts of the war, airplanes, heroes and heroines, the lives of the civilians of Calais, Charles de Gaulle (who married a local girl, Yvonne Vendroux), secret weapons, the Resistance and more. It’s well worth a visit if you go to Calais, one of my favorite small cities that most people ignore.

More about the Museum; what it has and how to visit.

La Coupole

La Coupole is one of the great sites of World War II and should be on the list of anyone interested in Hitler’s terrifying new weapons. Built into a hillside so virtually hidden from the sky, it took over 7 kilometres of underground galleries. Today it’s an impressive museum that takes you from World War II into the space age. 

La Coupole was one of the secret locations built to launch the V1 and V2 bombs on London. The Germans called them revenge weapons (Vergeltungswaffen) or wonder weapons (Wunderwaffe). 

The V1 flying bombs were known as ‘doodlebugs’ or ‘buzz bombs’ after the sound they made when in flight. Powered by a jet engine, they were originally launched from a ramp. I can remember my parents describing the sheer terror of the sound. But as the V1 had a straight, level trajectory, they were relatively easy to shoot down. They were most effective psychologically rather than practically. 

The V2 was a hugely tall streamlined rocket, powered by an engine burning a mix of alcohol-water and liquid oxygen. It blasted away to the edge of space then fell back to earth at supersonic speed. The first V2 hit London on September 8, 1944.

More about La Coupole and Hitler’s V2 Rockets

Eperlecques Blockhouse

Planned in 1942, and built between March 1943 and July 1944, Eperlecques blockhouse sits in the middle of a wood.  Kraftwerk Nord West (Powerplant Northwest) is a sinister, frightening place, designed as a liquid oxygen factory and an assembly and launch facility for Hitler’s V2 rockets aimed at London. It could contain over 100 missiles at any one time and launch up to 36 daily. 

You walk through the woods up small paths past semi-hidden abandoned military vehicles. Nothing prepares you for the massive concrete block and its gloomy interior, built by thousands of prisoners of war and conscripted workers. In essence they were used as slave labourers. 

Dark tunnels lead you further into the site and you walk past tunnels leading off to left and right. But it was never completed. By 1944 the Allies were aware of the sites and repeatedly bombed Eperlecques as part of Operation Crossbow.

More about Eperleques Blockhouse

Mimoyecques Fortress

Mimoyecques is far less known than the other two revenge weapon sites. It was here that the Germans were trying to develop the V3. Had it been developed it would, according to Winston Churchill, have created the ‘most devastating attack of all’. The site the Germans codenamed Wiese (Meadow), or Bauvorhaben 711 (Construction Project 711) was specifically aimed at London, 103 miles/165 kms away. 

A walk down the long dark, dank tunnel takes you past boards with diagrams showing you how the weapon was designed. It’s an extraordinary idea: shafts holding the V-3 guns fired ten explosive projectiles a minute.

News of planned firings reached British intelligence on July 5, 1944. The next day, two squadrons carpet bombed the area, one led by Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire. They released 16 Tallboy bombs, designed by Barnes Wallace. It worked and the building was stopped.  

You see memorials to Canada’s 3rd Infantry Division which captured the site on September 3, 1944. 

And there’s an intriguing, and tragic story told here about a war hero – Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr., (1915-1944), older brother to President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963).

Read more about Mimoyecques Fortress

Batterie Todt – Museum of the Atlantic Wall

The Batterie Todt, Museum of the Atlantic Wall sits on the Cap Gris-Nez on the coast. It was part of Hitler’s plan to attack England and was designed to contain four 380mm (15″) guns. Started in 1940 and opened officially on February 10, 1942, it could fire rocket and shells up to 42 kilometres, easily reaching the English coast and Dover in 42 seconds. It was officially Turm 1 – one of four such defences. (The three others cannot be visited.)

Its main action was after the Normandy D-Day landings in 1944 when the First Canadian Army was advancing along the coast, retaking the ports and fortifications. A bombing raid on September 26 was followed by another one on September 29 when the garrison surrendered.

The museum has outside exhibits including a German flak gun and a huge impressive Krupp A5 (E) railway gun. Inside the former stores, barracks and more have been transformed into rooms containing both German and Allied artefacts . At the centre, the huge gun room (the ‘rotunda’) has more displays.

Read more about Batterie Todt

Siracourt V-1 Bunker

Siracourt was one of the four launching sites in Pas-de-Calais with its ramps pointed at London; the others were aimed at Brighton, Dover, Newhaven, Hastings, Southampton, Manchester and Portsmouth. The two aimed at Bristol and Plymouth were built on the Cherbourg peninsula. 

Built in 1943-44, the Siracourt bunker was codemaned Wasserwerk St. pol (St Pol Waterworks). Bombed intensively by the Allies, it was never used.

It’s on the Rue du Blockhaus in Siracourt but you can only visit inside on a guided tour.

World War I & II Cemeteries

Travelling through Pas-de-Calais you’ll see a huge number of Commonwealth War Graves Commissions cemeteries from both world wars. Some are small; others are large. All of them have tragic stories to tell.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitor Centre

The CWGC Centre is not as well known as it should be. It’s a fascinating place that shows you what exactly this guardian of war graves and memorials at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries and territories does. It began in 1918 locating bodies and finding details about the war dead. 

At the centre you can look into a series of workshops from stone masons engraving headstones from Portland stone to carpenters, sign makers, gardeners, blacksmiths and more. Bodies from both world wars are still being discovered. And the CWGC centre researches everything they can to identify the remains before their final reburial. That is just part of its remit; today it also looks after the cemeteries all around the world.

Well worth the detour!

More about the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitor Centre

Visit details for the CWGC

List of CWGC Cemeteries in Pas-de-Calais
Visit CWGC cemeteries in France 

More about Pas-de-Calais

Guide to Calais
The Calais Dragon

Declaration: I travelled to France courtesy of DFDS from Dover to Calais on a self-driving press trip as a guest of Pas-de-Calais Tourisme.

More Information on Ferries to France including DFDS details.

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The Calais Memorial Museum 39-45 (Musée Mémoire 39-45) is hunkered down in a park in the middle of Calais. Unless you know it’s there you might miss it. But do visit this huge bunker. The museum it holds inside its imposing thick concrete walls tells a fascinating tale of Pas de Calais during the war, particularly revealing the lives and suffering of the citizens of Calais.

The Beginning of the Nightmare

On May 26, 1940, the German army entered Calais. They were to occupy the city and the Pas de Calais region until September 1944. During the offensive, Calais itself was so heavily bombed that 73% of the old town was destroyed. For five long, violent days, 3,000 British and 800 French troops held out against the German 10^th Panzer Division.  

The Allied forces lost the battle, but the siege diverted the formidable Panzer Division from reaching Dunkirk and was of vital help to Operation Dynamo. What Winston Churchill called the ‘miracle of deliverance’ saved 330,000 Allied and French troops. From May 26 to June 4, the Little Ships of Dunkirk, a flotilla of hundreds of merchant navy boats, fishing boats, yachts, lifeboats and small pleasure craft ferried the troops across the Channel. It prompted Churchill’s famous We shall fight on the beaches speech on June 4 to the House of Commons.

But for the inhabitants of Calais and the surrounding beaches, the German victory marked the start of a horrifying four years of privation and humiliation. And Calais was at its heart.

The Germans believed that the invasion of France would take place in Pas de Calais and heavily fortified the coastline; a belief they held right up to June 5, 1944 when the Allies launched the invasion of France…in Normandy.

In Calais itself, the Germans built the Marine Kommando bunker (Widerstandsnest 13), believed to be the longest in Europe. It was the command post for German troops with a telephone exchange controlling the whole of the region.

Visit the Memorial Museum 39-45

The massive concrete bunker is just one storey high but it dominates one end of the park. Inside it’s set up just as the Germans built it. There’s no natural light; if the power failed it became a claustrophobic, frightening place. 20 rooms stretch down the two sides of the long corridor, each telling a story about the war in Calais and the region.

Each room is small but packed with posters, models, photographs, weapons and boards explaining the action. It’s not a particularly sophisticated museum, and many of the posters and photos are old, some of them faded. But this brings home the reality much more effectively; you really are taken back and get a sense of what the war was like.

Different Rooms in the Calais Memorial Museum

There are rooms dedicated to aircraft, covering the RAF and its planes, complete with a smashed engine and a room full of model aircraft.

Rooms dedicated to Calais cover the resistance and the call to arms for the liberation of the city.

There are rooms full of models of German soldiers – some asleep; some eating; and an impressive communications room. Rooms themed on secret weapons, the Lindemann battery, Charles de Gaulle, coastal support positions, World War I and of course, Liberation.

You see the lives of the civilians under German rule and what they were allowed, and not allowed, to do.

Lindemann Battery and Prisoner of War Camp

And there’s also a great model of the nearby Lindemann Fort with its prisoner of war camp. It fascinates children who stare (along with their equally interested parents) at the tiny figures, guns, battlements and horses pulling carriages in and out of the gates.

The French Resistance

One particularly impressive, and tragic room shows the stories, and pictures, of civilians caught up in the war and killed as a result of their activities. The women are impressive:

Odette Bader Gerschel, born on October 14, 1914. Arrested on February 1, 1944, deported to Auschwitz and killed on February 10, 1944. Her crime? Being Jewish.

Raymonde Boetzle-Basser, born on July 17, 1920 in Ardres. Arrested on July 17, 1942, deported to Loos, then Essen and killed on May 1, 1945. She was heavily involved in espionage and was given various awards posthumously like the Légion d’Honeur, Croix de Guerre, Medal of France Libre and others.

Yvonne Barbier, born May 24, 1892 in the barracks of Blériot-Plage. She hid, housed and fed English soldiers and airmen shot down in the region. Arrested on March 21 in Lille she was taken to Loos and tortured. Condemned to death she was deported on May to Berlin and warned she would be beheaded by axe. She asked for a lesser punishment and received a sentence of five years of forced labour at different concentration camps. On May 28, 1945, she was liberated by the American 101 Airborne. She died on July 28 1966.

The Memorial Museum 39-45 might be small but it’s impressive and you emerge into the park with a better idea of the hell that Calais residents, and Allied forces, suffered.

The Liberation of Calais

Calais was liberated between September 25 and October 1, 1944 by General Daniel Spry’s 3^rd Canadian Infantry Division. Other Canadian forces were liberating the surrounding towns and countryside.

During the liberation, many of the 20,000 civilians who had stayed in Calais came out of their hiding places and began singing the Marseillaise.

More Information about Calais

Calais is one of my favourite north France cities. While most people just use it as a ferry port, I have spent many weekends enjoying the city and the nearby coast.

Guide to Calais
The Calais Dragon

More about World War II around Calais

La Coupole and Hitler’s V2 Rockets
The secret and brutal blockhouse of Eperlecques
The strange story of the V3 weapon, and Lt. Joseph Kennedy’s part in the bombing of Mimoyecques

Visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to see how this great organisation looks after the cemeteries of the great wars, and deals with newly found bodies.

Declaration: I travelled to France courtesy of DFDS from Dover to Calais on a self-driving press trip as a guest of Saint Omer/Pas-de-Calais Tourisme.

More Information on Ferries to France including DFDS details.

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This year Hauts-de-France has won the European Region of Gastronomy Award. It’s awarded by a body called the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism. The IGCAT (rather long winded but it does cover everything) picks a European country/region each year.

No surprises that it’s been awarded to France. But the region? Not one you might expect…not Provence, nor Normandy, nor Burgundy (Lyons must be gutted), nor the south west but…northern France! The Hauts-de-France win of the European Region of Gastronomy Award for 2023 has surprised everyone…except those who happen to live in the Nord, Pas de Calais and Picardy.

Winning the award is great news for anyone travelling from the UK. It’s on our doorstep.

About the Hauts-de-France European Gastronomy Award

The award highlights regions which promote the art of eating well. But it’s also about sustainability and meeting economic, ecological and social challenges. The Institute is a slow food and bio diversity advocate, formed in 2012 as a non-profit international organisation.

The award is very much about supporting local producers, farmers, cheese makers, winemakers and more. And Hauts-de-France won the European Award for the support, and for its products, traditional regional cooking, specialities and innovation. As the IGCAT put it: “producers and chefs put local, homemade and seasonal produce on the menu, with all the generosity of the ‘people of the North’”. This also reduces food miles, a key concern of the French.

The candidacy was led by Alexandre Gauthier, the 2-Michelin star chef of La Grenouillère in La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil along with a collective of 9 members.

A Delighted Hauts-de-France wins European Gastronomy Award

 The region’s response to the Award:

“Hauts-de-France is more like a hidden jewel, just like one of its most iconic food products, the endive, also called the ‘Pearl of the North’. Our gastronomy is alive, full of taste and authenticity. It is bitter, sweet and smoked; its incomparable flavours reflect nature with our coastline, great plains, fields and orchards, forming a fundamental part of what we offer visitors.”

Food of Hauts-de-France

Gastronomy in Hauts-de-France is full of surprises.

Did you know that the region is the world’s largest producer of endives, and Europe’s largest potato producer?

That Boulogne is France’s biggest fishing port with a fleet of around 100 working fishing boats catching over seventy species of fish a day?

That Saint-Omer is the French capital of summer cauliflowers?

That the region produces the country’s biggest selection of cheeses with more than 200 varieties. Buy them at specialist cheese shops like those owned by Philippe Olivier?

That 10% of France’s champagne is produced here?!

And that’s just for starters.

A Surprisingly Long History

During the Roman era, hams made in Cassel were exported to Italy and sold in Rome.

Beer was first produced around Valenciennes by the Celts who made cervoise. Then the medieval monks, knowing a thing or two about good living, took over. Beer was flavoured with gruyt (aromatic herbs) grown in the monastery gardens before hops were introduced. In the early 1900s there were around 2,000 breweries in Hauts-de-France. Today there may only be around 150 breweries, but they make up more than half of all breweries in France.  

Chantilly cream was invented in Hauts-de-France in 1671.

Top Restaurants in Hauts-de-France

There are 16 Michelin-starred restaurants, 2 of them with 2 Michelin stars and the others with 1 star. Also look out for a wide variety of local restaurants, from estaminets which have Flemish connections, to small bistros, plus a lot of fish and seafood restaurants.

Best Restaurants in Hauts-de-France

Visit the Food Producers

Cheese farms, chocolate makers, endive specialists and more offer visits where you can see and learn how each speciality is produced.

Take a Cookery Lesson

Learn how to cook fish in Boulogne, chicken in Arras and that famous whipped cream in Chantilly.  

All this and more has led to the Hauts-de-France official European Region of Gastronomy Award.

Here’s my article about the Food of Hauts-de-France.

More Information on the Region

How to get to Hauts-de-France

Tourist Offices

Hauts-de-France Tourism
Nord Department Tourism
Pas de Calais Tourism
Picardy Tourism

Regions of France
French Departments

Food in France

The Food of France – An Intriguing Story

The photograph at the top of the article is of Le Cerisier, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Lille.

The post Hauts-de-France wins European Gastronomy Award appeared first on Mary Anne's France.

Winning the European Region of Gastronomy Award for 2023 has put the food of Hauts-de-France on the map. This surprising region produces a real feast of local ingredients as well as beer, and yes, champagne. So what can you look forward to?

Some Surprising Facts

Hauts-de-France is the biggest agricultural region producing cereals and vegetables like soft wheat and sugar beets. It’s the world’s largest producer of endives, and Europe’s largest potato producer. The region is also a heavyweight player in the general agri-food industry.

And in case you aren’t convinced, the region produces 10% of French milk.

A Glorious Countryside of Contrasts

Orchards and market gardens in the Baie de Somme estuary and the marshes of Picardy grow fruit and vegetables. Shop locally for cauliflower from Saint-Omer, carrots from Tilques, leeks from Leblond, chicory from the Nord’s former quarries, beans from Soissons, lentils from Picardy, garlic from Locon, artichokes from Laon and rattes (potatoes) from Le Touquet.

Visit the Producers of the Food of Hauts-de-France

Ask at the local tourist office for producers you can visit.

For endives (chicon) visit La Ferme aux Chiconnettes in Achiet le Petit. Here you can buy confit of endives, jam, and other products you would never associate with the vegetable if like me, you eat it only as a gratin of braised endive wrapped in ham, backed in a bechamel sauce and sprinkled with cheese. They are sometimes closed so telephone first to check. Tel: +44 ())3 21 23 69 14.

Take a boat trip through the Audomarois Marshes in Clairmarais near Saint-Omer where small market gardens sell from the banks of the canals. I bought the best cauliflower I have ever tasted from one such.

Top Markets to Visit in Hauts-de-France

You’ll find the best food of Hauts-de-France in these markets.

Lille, Nord

The Marché de Wazemmes is one of France’s biggest selling every kind of fruit and vegetables, as well as charcuterie, cheeses and olives. Shop in the surrounding streets for Tunisian food.

Check out all the food markets, indoors and outdoors, in Lille.

Amiens, Picardy

On Saturday mornings, Amiens holds a large outdoor market in Place Parmentier where fresh vegetables grown in the market gardens of the nearby hortillonnages marshes are sold. Plus fresh seafood from the Baie de Somme.

Visit Les Halles du Beffroi for regional producers. It’s particularly good for local cheeses.

Boulogne, Pas de Calais

Boulogne is France’s top fishing port so not surprisingly here is where to buy the delights of the sea. The daily fish market on Quai Gambetta sells just-landed fish and seafood, crab, lobster, langoustines, scallops and more.
On Wed and Sat morning Place Dalton has an outdoor local food market.
Boulogne’s Markets

Montreuil-sur-Mer, Pas de Calais

Saturday morning on Place-de-Gaulle square, great organic local food is on sale. As Montreuil is very much a foodie destination, the quality and variety is astonishing.
check here for markets in and around Montreuil-sur-Mer

Dunkirk, Pas de Calais

Place de Gaulle has a seasonal fruit and vegetable market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Check here for markets in and around Dunkirk.

Saint-Omer, Pas de Calais

On Saturday mornings, make for the large market on the Grand Place (Place du Marechal Foch). Much of the local produce comes from the nearby marshes where small market gardeners produce great seasonal variety. Saint-Omer is the French capital of summer cauliflower so buy yours here.
Check here for markets in and around Saint-Omer.

Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, Picardy

Make for the market on a Sunday for the freshest local fruit and veg. It’s in the Place des Pilotes.
More about the Somme.

Food of Hauts-de-France: Cheeses

Here’s another surprise: Hauts-de-France has the country’s biggest selection of cheeses with more than 200 varieties. Here are a few to look out for.

Abbaye de Belval is a traditional French cheese, also called Belval or Le Trappiste de Belval. Produced in Pas de Calais at Troisvaux by Trappist sisters, it’s made from raw cow’s milk and matures for 60 days. Once produced in the Belval Abbey, today the Trappist sisters have moved to another abbey though they still continue to produce the cheese. A semi-soft cheese with a subtle flavour washed in brine, there’s also Le Belval Bière Blonde, washed in blonde ale, and Le Belval Bière Brune, washed in brown ale. 

Abbaye du Mont des Cats is produced by monks in their monastery in Godewaersvelde. Made with pasteurized cow’s milk, it matures for at least a month while being washed with brine and dyed with roucou – a natural dye derived from annatto shrub. It’s salty, milky and hay-like.

Boulette d’Avesnes is made from cow’s milk and is conical in shape. Flavoured with tarragon, cloves, parsley, and pepper with its rind traditionally washed with beer it’s a stinky cheese with a strong taste.  

Chaud biloute is a traditional French cow’s milk cheese made in Saint-Aubin in the Nord department and sold in a wooden box. After 4 weeks of maturation in cellars, it’s ready for consumption. It’s a good cheese for a starter – put it in the oven for a few minutes so it’s runny and serve with crusty bread.

Gris de Lille (also known as Puant de Lille, Vieux Lille, and Puant Macere, ie stinking pickle) is another very pungent, semi-soft cheese produced from Nord-Pas de Calais and derived from Maroilles. The cheese is made with cow’s milk, and it is washed in brine for three months. Produced in square blocks, traditionally it was taken down the pits by the northern miners.

Maroilles is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a nutty, mushroom-like flavour – and a pungent smell (it’s affectionally called ‘old stinker’). Maroilles was first produced by monks in Nord-Pas de Calais and Aisne in the 10^th century (those monks knew a thing or two about good living). It’s matured for at least 35 days and is shaped into a square.

Historically it was produced by local farmers on June 24, Saint Jean Baptiste’s day. They then donated the aged cheeses to the Abbey for the monks to distribute to the Champagne grape harvesters. October 1 is still known as Maroilles Day in the region.
Try tarte au maroilles, a tart with shortcrust pastry base and a filling of Maroilles cheese and crème fraîche, butter, eggs, salt, and pepper.

Mimolette is a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese originating around Lille where it’s called a boule de Lille. This orange-coloured cheese is aged from 2 months (when it tastes like Parmesan). When aged for up to 2 years (extra-vieille) it has a hard skin which comes from cheese mites added to the skin for extra flavour.  

Visit a Cheese Producer

Spend 15 minutes at La Fromagerie Sainte Godeline (Les Frères Bernard) watching artisanal cheese makers. Then taste and stock up on their varieties to take home. The fromagerie is very near Calais.

La Finarde Cheese Caves in Arras has tastings in the Arras citadelle of cheeses from France and the Netherlands. They also have a stand in the Arras food market on Wednesday and Saturdays.

La Halte d’Autrefois, owned and run by Valerie Magniez, is a well known goat farm producing organic cheeses and bread made with goat’s milk. Near Montreuil, it makes a good family visit. You can milk the goats while your children can pet the animals then learn how the cheese is made.

Food of Hauts-de-France: Fish and Shellfish

Boulogne-sur-mer, France’s largest fishing port, has a fleet of around 100 working fishing boats catching over seventy species of fish a day. It leads Europe in seafood processing, for instance canning herrings to export to Norway.

If you’re in Boulogne and fancy a treat, book a meal at La Matelote hotel/restaurant where the Lestienne family offer a Lobster Menu using the freshest just-caught fish. If you’re a group of 5 or more people, you can book a cookery lesson here.

In the port area (Capécure), make for Le Châtillon where the fish is flappingly fresh. Originally a restaurant for sailors and dock workers, it’s owned by an ex-fishmonger who handpicks the ingredients, and offers top, very good value dishes.

Hauts-de-France Special Dishes

Like every French region, Hauts-de-France has its own specialities. So try these when you can for some great new tastes.

Flamiche: a traditional pie with chopped leeks, butter and crème fraiche which resembles a quiche. Some cooks add bacon, nutmeg and other vegetables. It dates back to the late 18^th century.

The Welsh (Welsh complet) is north France’s answer to the Welsh rarebit. It’s made with cheese cooked in boiling beer which is then poured over a slice of toast and ham. When it’s golden a fried egg is added on top.

Coquillade de la baie de Somme is a kind of chowder made with scallops, potatoes, onions, carrots, fish or vegetable stock and olive oil. The vegetables are simmered until tender then the scallops are added last.

Ficelle picarde or Picardy string is a savoury pancake filled with ham, cheese and mushrooms.

Carbonade Flamande is one of north France’s most famous, and popular, dishes. Adopted  from Belgium it’s made from beef, onions, beer and soft brown sugar.

Andouillettes are definitely an acquired, and strong, taste. The coarse-grained sausage is made using tripe (pork lower intestines) and wrapped in the pig’s colon (chitterlings). It’s cooked with wine, onions, pepper and seasonings. BUT do not fear: andouillettes from Cambrai can be made with veal.

Waterzoï is well worth trying. Adopted from Flanders, it’s a kind of bouillabaisse fish stew made of various kinds of fish and cooked in a pot. So eel, pike, carp and bass as well as cod and monkfish (in fact any kind of fish that is to hand) can end up in the pot.

Eel is another unusual type of fish used in northern France cooking. It can be roasted or cooked with butter, cream and fresh herbs (anguille au vert à la Flamande). Do try it if you can; it’s sweet and quite delicious.

Salt marsh lamb. Try this delicious lamb raised in the Somme bay in Picardy. The animals are reared on meadows which are regularly flooded by tidal waters between March and December. The sea grasses give the meat its own particular flavour. Salt marsh lamb is on sale between July and January.

Food of Hauts-de-France for those with a Sweet Tooth

Bêtises de Cambrai are French boiled sweets made in Cambrai. Bêtise means a stupid mistake so it’s claimed that they were invented by accident. Originally mint, flavours now include apple, chocolate, cherry, lemon, anis and more. They’re individually wrapped in cellophane and usually packed in boxes. Two confectioners claim to be the original inventors: Afchain and Despinoy.

Gauffre fourrée are waffles filled with butter and sugar, flavoured with vanilla or rum. Buy them at the famous Chez Meert in Lille, a beautiful shop and Art Deco tearoom dating back to 1909.

Palets de dame. Buy these crisp, buttery cookies in any pâtisserie. Traditionally covered with apricot jam and lemon-flavoured icing sugar, some are flavoured with rum, vanilla, or aniseed.

Chantilly Cream. This sweet, whipped cream is found everywhere in almost every restaurant in France. It comes from Chantilly (of course), in the Oise department, probably best known for its château.

It was invented in 1671 when King Louis XIV visited the Château de Chantilly, owned by the great princely general, Louis II de Bourbon-Condé who told his pastry chef, François Vatel, to organise the reception. But Sacré Bleu! He ran out of cream. Being a pastry chef of genius, he decided to whip the cream as hard as he could to give it volume. It was a triumph and Chantilly cream was born. Or so the story goes.

Most of us come across Chantilly cream in artificial form. But it’s a wonderful home-made cream. If you want to learn how to make it, book a lesson at the Atelier de la Chantilly, in Chantilly.  

Macarons Maison Jean Trogneux in Amiens has been making macaroons since 1872. Brought to France from her native Italy by Catherine de’Medici when she arrived in France in 1533 to marry the King, these are crispy outside and tender inside and are made of almond paste, sugar, honey, eggs and vanilla. They are a far cry from the oversweet (to my taste), garishly coloured macarons that have been made famous by Ladurée.

Chocoholics should look out for Beussent Lachelle chocolates, made in their factory in Beussent which you can visit. They  have shops all over northern France and grow their own beans in Ecuador.

What to Drink in Hauts-de-France?

Well beer of course. More than half of France’s breweries are based in Northern France. So if you’re a beer fan, this is the region to make for. Every variety of beer is here. If you’re visiting, ask at the local tourist office for breweries and for brewery tours. Some have excellent restaurants attached.

Some of the best known names are Brasserie Goudale, Brasserie Castelain and Brasserie Saint-Germain.

Look out for Bière de Garde from French Flanders. A traditional farmhouse ale it was brewed during the winter and stored until spring and summer. Beers in this category range in colour and are classified as blonde (gold), to classic amber (ambrée or copper), to brown (brune, dark brown). One of the best is Anostoké from Brasserie du Pays Flamand. Also try Brasserie Duyck’s Jenlain Bière de Garde.

Brewery Treats

Try the Vivat flagship brewery where beer is brewed in an old Benedictine abbey. Sold after the French Revolution, it expanded in 1910 when a new brick brewery was built. It continued producing beer until 1926. In 2000 the factory was restored and beer was brewed once again. You can see the old equipment, then eat and drink in the brasserie.

Book a beer treasure hunt in Lille with L’Echappée Bière every Saturday afternoon. It costs €70 per person but includes the tour, lunch and blind tastings in various different bars.

The Thiriez hop farm and brewery in Esquelbecq offers an hour-long tour with a tasting at the end. They also have 2 chambre d’hotes rooms if you want to stay. €55 and €60 per night for a double room.

Champagne

Another surprise as the region produces around 10% of all French champagne. It’s produced in the Aisne department that sits beside Champagne. The vineyards are in the Marne river valley. Visit some of the best known: Champagne Météyer in Trélou-sur-Marne established in 1860, Champagne Pannier in Château-Thierry and Leveque Dehan in Barzy-sur-Marne.

Wines from the Slag Heaps

Go to the vine-covered Pas de Calais slag heap (terril) in Haillicourt near Bruay-la Buissière. Who would have thought that a slag heap from former mines would be planted with Chardonnay vines? Fittingly, the vigneron has dubbed his crisp white wine not chardonnay but Le Charbonnay – a pun on the French for coal, charbon.

Where to Buy Beer, Wine and Champagne

There are many outlets and supermarkets for buying your particular tipple. I always go to Calais Vins near Calais. They have a huge range, are knowledgeable, speak English, ask what your favourites are, and give wine tastings. And you can now claim VAT back on purchases very easily as the staff take care of the paper work. Check out my article on Calais Vins VAT reclaim.

Cook with the Professionals in Hauts-de-France

If you want to learn how to use the local food of Hauts-de-France, head to the stunning town of Arras for a lesson with chef Gabriel Asseman of L’Oeuf ou La Poule (The Egg or the Chicken). On Wednesdays and Saturdays you start with a visit to the market to buy the ingredients you then cook back at the restaurant. There’s a wine pairing with wines from a local merchant.

Book at the Lille L’Atelier des Chefs, a company with cooking schools in different French cities. They have a wide range of classes, including cooking with families.

Learn French baking secrets from pastry chef Eric Chabot-Smyth who has produced delectable desserts in top restaurants around the world. He’s at Les Myrophorres in Abbeville.

Where to Eat in Hauts-de-France

There are 16 Michelin-starred chefs in Hauts-de-France. But don’t forget the restaurants with a bib gourmand (good value), and the local estaminets which are good bistro-style restaurants often with a Flemish twist.

The two best places for eating well are Lille and Montreuil-sur-Mer. Calais (one of my favourite cities) also has some good and very enjoyable restaurants.

More on where to eat in my article on Best Restaurants in Northern France.

More Information on the Region

How to get to Hauts-de-France

Tourist Offices

Hauts-de-France Tourism
Nord Department Tourism
Pas de Calais Tourism
Picardy Tourism

Regions of France
French Departments

Food in France

The Food of France – An Intriguing Story
The Food of Provence
The Food in Burgundy
The Best Regional French Food
Top Food Festivals in France

The Art of Cuisine of Toulouse-Lautrec great cook and artist who loved to entertain friends to his meals

The post Food of Hauts-de-France – Nord, Pas de Calais & Picardy appeared first on Mary Anne's France.

Northern France has so many great restaurants that it’s difficult to pick out the best. For a start there are 16 Michelin-starred chefs in northern France. Two restaurants, both in Pas de Calais, have two stars; 14 spread through Nord, Pas de Calais and Picardy have one star.

And don’t forget the restaurants with a Michelin bib gourmand (good quality; good value). Always look out for the local estaminets which are good bistro-style restaurants often with a Flemish twist.

There are many that should be included in this list of the best restaurants in northern France. So please if you find top restaurants, bistros, small local estaminets or even places for excellent snacks, do let me know.

For this article, Northern France refers only to the Hauts-de-France region. More on Normandy restaurants later!

PLEASE NOTE: I have only included set menu prices. Every restaurant has a carte to choose from as well.

A Note about the Maps

Here is a map for the whole northern France – Hauts-de-France region. You’ll find restaurant maps for each department – Nord, Pas de Calais and Picardy at the top of each list.

I have listed the restaurants geographically. So go to the map, see where you might be staying and click on the relevant restaurant. Information of the restaurant is in each department, following the geographical layout. I hope this makes sense!

Restaurants with 2 Michelin Stars in Northern France – Pas de Calais

La Grenouillière

Alexandre Gauthier cooks up a storm at La Grenouillière near Montreuil-sur-Mer. It’s a beautiful location in an old farmhouse now transformed with two impressive metallic marquees. The view is over the extensive woods and gardens to the countryside and Montreuil’s ramparts.

Alexandre Gauthier took over from his father in the kitchen 20 years ago. One of France’s most inventive chefs, his molecular cooking is contemporary, providing a meal to savour. He has a 19/20 score in Gault Millau. He also has the new ‘Green’ Michelin star given for his local, regional credentials.
There are 4 rooms to rent in the grounds.

Château de Beaulieu

Château de Beaulieu is owned and run by Christophe Dufossé . The estate has a vegetable garden (watered by springs from the estate and the moat), citrus greenhouse, a small farm for animals, an orchard, aromatic garden and beehives. The chef is a champion of organic, self-sufficient and sustainable fish and meat. Don’t miss out on the desserts! There are two restaurants in the red brick 19^th-century mansion, the Michelin-starred dining room and a country style brasserie. He has a green Michelin star for his use of over 30 local producers like saffron and fish from the Côte d’Opale.

For more restaurants in Pas de Calais see below.

Best Restaurants in Northern France – Nord Department

Haut Bonheur de la Table – 1 Michelin Star

Perched high up on a hill with great views, this restaurant is in the charming typically Flemish village of Cassel, well worth a visit for its windmill and museum. And here you’ll find this small restaurant (20 covers only) where chef Eugène Hobraiche produces some spectacular cooking. Fish comes from Dunkirk; try grilled wild turbot or tuna for a treat.

L’Auberge – Bib Gourmand

Once a tannery, now a very good simple restaurant near Hazebrouck. Chef Antonin Maresciano champions local produce and cooks well-known Flemish classics given a light modern twist.

Auberge du Vert Mont – 1 Michelin Star

Florent Ladeyn champions Flemish food with some of his inspiration from nearby Belgium. In a dining room with exposed rafters and overlooking the West Flanders hillsides, the food is cooked on a wood fire in front of the diners. He has always championed local produce using flowers and plants to decorate his dishes and he has been awarded a green Michelin star as well. Don’t miss the fries cooked in Maroilles cheese with caramelised onion.

Nature – 1 Michelin Star

Opposite the Saint-Vaast church in Armentières, Nicolas Gautier’s cooking is classical with contemporary twists. Local specialities produce dishes like lightly smoked scallops and roast Flanders pigeon stuffed under the skin with mushrooms. Fish comes from Boulogne and Dunkirk; local cheeses are excellent and varied.

Bistro RG – Bib Gourmand

Just next door to Nature, this more casual restaurant is run by Nicolas Gautier and his brother Mathieu. The short menu is based on the cooking of their father, Roger Gautier. It’s an acknowledgement of how important their father’s cooking was. Short bistro-style menu has favourites like steak frites, mussels; service is very good.

Outside Lille

Lille, capital of the Nord department, is a foodie destination. Its proximity to Belgium has added another Flemish layer with cosy small restaurants specialising in Belgian specialities as well as some notable destinations.

Balsamique – Bib Gourmand

Benjamin Bajeux is the inspiration behind this pretty restaurant which has a terrace for summer dining. Try inventive dishes like a beetroot Baba with smoked haddock from one of the top smokeries in Boulogne; classics like magret de canard with oven-cooked boulangères potatoes are equally good.

Le Val d’Auge – 1 Michelin Star

Christophe Hagnerelle is typical of the young chefs making a name in France today. He worked with Joël Robuchon at Le Jamin then went to Beirut and later spent six months in  Connecticut. He is strong on fish and also game in season such as grouse and hare.  

Arborescence – 1 Michelin Star

In a former textile factory near the station, Félix Robert and his sommelier wife Nidta run the restaurant. The dishes are geared towards fish and vegetables often with a Japanese or Asian slant. So expect dishes like tempura and subtle curries, all given a classical French and beautifully presented.

Rozó – 1 Michelin star

In Marcq-en-Baroeul, a suburb of Lille, pastry chef Camille Pailleau and chef Diego Delbecq are cooking up a few storms in a former printing works which took 2 years to restore. The open-plan, airy loft-style dining room has a glass roof and metal beams. The chefs operate in open kitchens behind glass panes and produce some great modern dishes using local ingredients like chicory and tartes au sucre. Two signature dishes to try: mushroom medley from the chef and heather honey dessert from the pastry chef.

In Lille

Le Restaurant du Cerisier – 1 Michelin star

On the first floor of a bold contemporary building in the heart of Lille, the former chef of Le Meurin, Mathieu Boutroy, can be seen performing in a superb theatrically visible kitchen. Mixing classic technique with modern flavours. Try lamb in a ras-el-hanout crust.

Pureté -1 Michelin Star

Lille’s old town is the location for another great restaurant. Behind a conventional wooden shop front, Gérald Guille’s restaurant decor is modern with wooden floors, tables and chairs and banquette seating. At the end an open kitchen shows the chef and his team cooking classic dishes with inventive touches, using the likes of yuzu and kumqat.

La Table – Hôtel Clarance – 1 Michelin star

The Hotel Clarance and La Table are located in an 18^th-century mansion in Lille’s delightful old town. You can eat in the wood-panelled dining rooms and in the former library. In good weather, dine on the terrace looking out over the grounds. Chef Alexandre Miquel, originally from Bethune, is equally at home with fish or meat and uses local, seasonal ingredients with herbs from the hotel’s garden.

Best Restaurants in Northern France – Pas de Calais

Hotel/Restaurant de la Plage

Niece of Michelin-starred William Elliot at Le Pavillon in the Hotel Westminster in Le Touquet, Solène Elliott won various big awards including Escoffier Young Talents in 2019. In 2020 she opened her restaurant in her parent’s hotel. Championing local produce, her menus include dishes like warm cheese pastry with salted radishes and smoked herring. Main dishes might include pork loin cooked in smoked garlic and paprika with creamed artichoke, onions and broad beans. The hotel, set on  the beach, is a delightful seaside destination.

Atlantic Hotel La Liégoise – 1 Michelin Star

Take in the panoramic sea view from the first-floor restaurant in the delightful Opal Coast Atlantic Hotel, much beloved by the locals. Benjamin Delpierre concentrates quite rightly on fish and shellfish, red mullet, snails, oysters, razor clams and mussels.
There’s also the excellent Brasserie L’Aloze on the ground floor which is open for lunch and dinner daily.

Le Colegram

This small bistro which opened a year ago serves the freshest food using local ingredients. In an old house on a corner, it’s simply but stylishly decorated and has a professional, friendly staff. Attracting both locals and tourists, the good value menu includes starters from €7 and mains from €17. Don’t miss the desserts (from €6) of the young pâtissier, 24 year old Candice Declercq.

Au Soldat Laboureur

Conveniently located near St Pol-sur-Ternoise, Arras and Béthune, Al Soldat Laboureux is a great, thoroughly traditional restaurant. The red brick building has a rustic décor, complete with wallpaper and a fireplace and is particularly good for families. The traditional menu has classic patés, well cooked meat and crème brûlée.

La Cour de Rémi – Bib Gourmand

Owner Sébastien cooks everything, from sourdough bread to ice creams. Well-sourced ingredients produce dishes like pink haunch of venison with dauphinoise potatoes or scallops with parsnip mousseline. It’s good value for money. If you want to stay, book one of the excellent rooms.

L’oeuf ou la Poule 

In the heart of Arras, this buzzing, friendly and very local restaurant delivers traditional French dishes with a modern touch. Try la poule au pot or any of the chicken dishes cooked in different ways (or go for the guinea fowl or vegetable risotto). And of course any egg dishes come from happy, free range hens.

Restaurant N9UF

The Leplat family runs this new restaurant opened in August 2022 on the ground floor of the large, grand, red brick Manoir Sainte Paule in a small town near Béthune. Chef Maxime Leplat produces modern dishes like veal paupiettes with a chausseur sauce and potatoes roasted with rosemary. All ingredients are locally sourced. There’s a terrace for summer dining.

A l’Fosse 7

This family-run, joyous restaurant is always buzzing with locals. Mellow stone walls, wooden floors and beams set the scene for good value, classic cooking. Dishes might include French onion soup and pot’je Vleesch and – great idea: all mains can be ordered in smaller portions. And with vegetables from the Sallaumines market gardens 3 kms away, you don’t get much more local than here.  

Air Accueil – Bib Gourmand

Chef Franck Gilabert offers good value for money and local specialities in this large restaurant near the Bitry-en-Artois airfield. Once the officers’ mess, now the restaurant offers the likes of local trout with creamed buckwheat and celery mousse. For meat try pork loin, braised chicory and creamed mushrooms. A far cry from the past.

For more restaurants in Calais, here’s my guide to this great, unexpectedly interesting city.

Best Restaurants in Northern France – Picardy

La Clé des Champs – Bib Gourmand

Nicolas Chamoin and his wife Adéline are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and charming. The restaurant’s modern décor is delightfully comfortable rather than startling. Concentrate on the excellent fish and shellfish from the coast, though meat dishes are equally pleasing. They do take-away, and have a small shop attached.

L’Orée de la Forêt – 1 Michelin star

This family–run hotel and restaurant has a great location in a late 19^th-century mansion surrounded by wooded grounds. The restaurant was opened by the grandmother of the chef Nicolas Leclercq in 1956. From the beginning, vegetables from the large kitchen garden were used, something of a novelty back then. Nicolas Leclercq won his Michelin star in 1994 and has held it ever since. He uses top seasonal ingredients to produce classic dishes.

Auberge À la Bonne Idée – 1 Michelin star

The restaurant is in a medieval village in the middle of the forest of Compiègne, near the Armistice Museum. With stone walls, beams and a fireplace, its’ a delightful venue. Try something a little different from chef Sébastien Tantot whose dishes are chalked up on a board. Set menus are adventurous and vegetables, fruit and aromatic plants and herbs from his own kitchen garden dominate.  

Le Verbois – 1 Michelin star

Le Verbois is another very successful family-run restaurant. Located in the former Rothschild family late 19^th-century hunting lodge, the décor is modern. Guillaume Guibet is the third generation, highly successful chef offering new creative dishes often with an Asian twist.

Auberge de La Grange aux Loups – Bib Gourmand

Julie and Dorian Wicart have established themselves in this enterprise – essentially a restaurant with rooms. Design is contemporary with exposed stone walls, wood beams and a central fireplace. Come here for excellent classic dishes with modern flourishes. Try a starter like salmon terrine with ratte potatoes and herbed fromage blanc. Mains include fish and meat with modern touches like roast shrimps and Camargue rice with chorizo and fennel. There’s a terrace for summer dining.

La Grange de Belle-Église – 1 Michelin star

This is the restaurant for great traditional cooking. The pretty restaurant is classically decorated with plush and comfortable tables and chairs and there’s a garden for outdoor dining. Chef Marc Duval champions classic dishes using local ingredients: asparagus, gnocchis, escargots. Main dishes are divided into 4 fish and 4 meat possibilities. Try roasted guinea fowl cooked in its own juice and in Jura vin jaune with sweet potatoes. For fish? Go for roast turbot with morilles and asparagus.  

More about Hauts-de-France

In 2023, Hauts-de-France won the Best European Gastronomy Award. Here’s an article about why the region won – ingredients, restaurants, dishes and more.

More about Food in France

The Food of France – An Intriguing Story
Discover the Best French Regional Food
Discover the top Food Festivals in France 
Read more about Food in Burgundy
Read more about the Food of Provence
French Christmas Food

Surprisingly, the artist Toulouse-Lautrec was a great cook. He followed the seasons and local produce. More about this unexpected gourmet and the Art of Cuisine.

France Regions
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Wine Allowances into the UK

The rules on bringing alcohol into the UK from the EU are as follows. Each person can bring in 18 litres (24 bottles) of (still) wine; 42 litres of beer, 4 litres of spirits and liquors over 22% alcohol; 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine (e.g. port, sherry).  You can split this last allowance, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits (both half of your allowance).

Check the UK Government website here.

So it makes sense (now the booze cruise with unlimited alcohol is deal) to go for classier wines particularly when you can reclaim VAT. Two top wine shops in Calais have adopted an easy system to reclaim VAT on alcohol. For details see below.

Calais Vins

Of all the Calais wine shops, my preferred one is Calais Vins. Run by the knowledgeable Jérôme Pont, it’s always been popular with Brits. The staff speak English (pre- Brexit 20% of their customers were British), and are extremely helpful when it comes to tasting and choosing. Calais Vins also stocks a very good range of beers and sparkling wines at prices from the extremely modest to the skies. They stock those coveted appellations of Fleurie, Médoc, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Meursault, Chinon, Chablis, Pomerol and more. They also offer rare bottles from estates like Whispering Angel, Guigal, Jaboulet, Louis Latour, Joseph Drouhin, Grand Crus Chateau Talbot, Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Domaine Trapet, Marcel Deiss and more. They also source many unusual small owner-run vineyards here.

There’s a Philippe Olivier cheese shop just outside for top French cheeses and a good bakery and snack bar.
Mon-Sat 9am-7pm; Sun and French bank holidays 9.30am-6pm.
Zone Curie, Rue Gutenbert. Tel: 00 33 (0)3 21 46 40 40
Website
Open Mon-Sat 9am-7pm. Sun and French public holidays 10am-6pm. Easy and free parking in front of the shop.
Calais Vins is located just off the A16 motorway, exit at junction 44 to Calais St Pierre. A few minutes’ drive from the port of Calais and the Eurotunnel terminal.

Olivier Vins et Compagnie

Previously known as Franglais, Olivier Vins et Compagnie is run by Olivier Vermisse and has an impressive range of wines, sparkling wines and beers.
CD215, 62185 Fréthun. Tel: 00 33 (0)3 21 85 29 39
Website
Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm Sun & French public holidays 10am-1pm. easy and free parking in front of the shop.
Olivier Vins is located off the A16 motorway, exit at junction 40 to Gare TGV. A few minutes’ drive from the Eurotunnel terminal and the port of Calais.

How to Claim Back VAT

They use two companies: Global Blue and Skiptax. So choose one of these and you should get your refund within 48 hours.

Global Blue: Collect your Tax Free Form from the store. Scan the bar code on the form at the kiosks located at the PABLO terminal in the Calais ferry port which is located in the main building after the customs. Or in the passenger building for Eurotunnel.

Skiptax: Download the free app and scan your passport. Shop and then scan your receipt. Scan the bar code generated by Skiptax at the departure terminal.

More about Calais

Guide to Calais – A Fabulous City
And whatever you do, don’t miss the Calais Dragon and his family!

Fast Facts

In Pas de Calais Department (62)
Hauts de France Region
38 km (24 miles) from the English Coast
Ferries to France

Tourist Office
12 Boulevard Clemenceau. Tel: +33 (0)321 96 62 40

Pas de Calais Department website

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France’s ‘Most British Airport’ in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage is to rename its airport in honour of Queen Elizabeth.

The north France chic resort of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage is one of France’s most British of cities, so what could be more appropriate than to rename its airport after the late Queen Elizabeth II who was so popular in France?

First Visits to France

France has always loved the Queen and the feeling was mutual. In 1948, Princess Elizabeth with her new husband, Philip Mountbatten, visited Paris. It was her first official visit abroad and was a rip-roaring success.

She repeated the visit in 1957, officially as Queen. It started with a state dinner in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and concluded with an official dinner in the Louvre. Again it was a highly popular visit though the French were doubtless rather nonplussed by the memo the Élysées Palace received from Buckingham Palace:

“Her Majesty has a small appetite but will eat just about anything, except caviar, oysters and shellfish in general. She prefers simple food.”

Today’s love affair

The love affair between France and the Queen has continued to today. After her death France flew flags at half-mast, and all the leading newspapers, whether right- or left-leaning, carried front pages and tributes. The most impressive speech came from Emmanual Macron after her death:

“The Queen of 16 kingdoms loved France, which loved her back. This evening, the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth are mourning their Queen. The people of France join them in their grief.”

Le Touquet’s Fashionable Past

In 1930 a small airstrip was built for British visitors who included the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII though not for long), Noël Coward, P.G. Wodehouse and Ian Fleming. They came on the daily flight from the UK to play golf and polo during the day and gamble heavily at night.

By 1950 the expanded airport was the third largest in France in terms of passenger numbers.

Today’s Tribute from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage

The airport said on announcing the news:

 “In order to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and in memory of her visit to Le Touquet with her uncle Edward VIII, during which she practised both horse riding and sand yachting, the town of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage wishes to name its airport after her, who, for 70 years, served her country with commitment, respect and constancy.” 

The name has not yet been revealed (probably not even decided upon).

Le Touquet continues to be popular with both nations. President Macron’s wife, Brigitte, inherited a house there, so if you’re visiting you might spot them. They often spend weekends and holidays in the town.

If you want to know more about Le Touquet-Paris-Plage and other north France resorts, read about them here: Seaside Resorts in Northern France

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Tourist Office

Guide to Calais, one of my favourite French cities (there’s a lot to see!)

How to get to France by ferry

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The Calais Dragon (Le Dragon de Calais) is the latest star in France. So if you haven’t met him yet, what’s he all about?

The Calais Dragon lives on the beach; he spouts fire and vapor; he walks along the Front du Mer; he takes people for a ride. And occasionally, in special street theatre shows he does battle with the town.

Your first glimpse of the Calais Dragon might well be from the ferries that ply between the UK and Calais. They blast their horns when the dragon is out and about. If you hear that, look out for him as the ship enters or leaves the harbor.

Calais is Changing Fast

The Calais Dragon is part of Calais’ new image. A city with a rich historic past (much of it being allied to its position as a major north France port), Calais is renovating its beach front.

Calais was a major seaside resort in the 19^th century so the rebuilding of that reputation makes perfect sense.

The town is expanding its sea front. The promenade will extend the walk beside the sea and there’ll be new green spaces, businesses, cafés and restaurants and beach activities. And at the end nearest the centre of town lives the Calais Dragon.

What’s the Calais Dragon like?

The Calais Dragon is huge – 12 metres high and 25 metres long with large wings from 5 to 17.5 metres long. He’s made of 72 tonnes of steel, wood, leather, copper and fabric. Everything moves: his body, his eyes, eyelids, ears, mouth and tongue. He can go to sleep (well he closes his eyes), run 4 kms an hour and flap his bat wings. From this you’d think he’s almost alive and that’s the impression you get as he moves just like a reptile would, seemingly following you with his gaze.

He’s brought to life by 4 to 6 operatives who take up to 48 people in the cradle on his back for a 30-minute voyage.

As an onlooker you experience much the same feeling that was produced by Joey in War Horse. You know he’s not real; you can see how he’s moved by the mechanics operated by people, and yet…he seems alive.

He’s also perfectly adapted for disabled people who take an elevator up to the platform in the Dragon’s house. They can then step straight into the cradle on top that carries passengers.

How the Calais Dragon came into being

It’s a great story, a mix of happenstance, imagination, willpower and politics. In fact, a typical  example of French genius at work.

In 1994, the creator, François Delarozière, was working with the Royal de Luxe street theatre company. He was involved in the renovation of the old abattoir in Calais, a large complex that became Le Channel, known for its innovative theatre which puts on exciting shows as well as its popular bistro and restaurant.

20 years ago, Delarozière founded La Machine. The innovative company produces spectacular street theatre with huge machines designed and especially created for the show.

They produced Les Mécaniques Savantes for Liverpool to celebrate the city being European Capital of Culture in 2008. For more than 20 years, La Machine has produced over 300 shows from Asia to America.

In 2016 they produced a show for Le Channel where François Delarozière met the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, and the project began.

What to create for Calais?

“Beneath the thick crust of the earth runs a maze of deep galleries which connect the seas and the continents. Sometimes, these galleries branch out and widen until they create worlds. Fantastical creatures inhabit these galleries.

The Dragon of Calais is fire, air, earth and water… he has always watched over the lands and seas of the north.”

This was François Delarozière’s inspiration. He came up with the idea of the Calais Dragon which was constructed at La Machine’s workshops: Les Machines de l’Ile in Nantes. If you’ve visited Nantes, you’ll have seen the huge elephant and the other fantastical bits of machinery made there.

The biggest machine the Nantes workshop has ever made was introduced to Calais’ inhabitants in November 2019. They took the Calais Dragon to their hearts and he’s now a very unusual and much loved Calais citizen.  

Where the Calais Dragon lives

François Delarozière chose Fort Risban, which stands between the harbour and the new promenade for the dragon’s home. Here he lives in a huge steel and glass structure. Right beside him, a small building houses a bar/restaurant/café, ticket office and a shop full of dragon-y things.

The Calais Dragon is not alone; his friend, a small iguana, stands just outside on a container. Climb up the small platform for a proper view.

A new project for the Calais Dragon

But this is temporary. The project will take over Fort Risban right behind the Dragon’s home.

Calais was an important port in the Hundred Years War between England and France. Fort Risban was originally built in November 1346 by the English King Edward III while he was besieging the town. The aim was to starve the Calais inhabitants by preventing supplies getting through to the town by sea. Its fortunes waxed and waned through the centuries and its last military use was during World War II.

The Fort will house an exhibition, plus the facilities currently in the modern temporary building. The Calais Dragon will also get a new building to live in, but that’s a very long time off.

There’s more to come…

The Calais Dragon and his friend, the iguana, make up just the beginning of a family that will gradually arrive in the town.

The family of creatures will be located throughout Calais in places important to the city’s history. And so the Calais Dragon will itself become a part of that story.

The Dombunker

The Dombunker is a huge blockhouse at the western end of Calais. It was built in 1940 by the Germans to house two Krupp K5 280mm rail guns for the attack on England.

The Dombunker will house two Varans de Voyage (a varan is a carnivorous lizard, who usefully warned of the presence of crocodiles). Designed to walk along roads and join car traffic, they’ll take up to 25 passengers on their backs. Don’t be surprised as you drive around Calais and spot them walking over bridges and stopping in various part of Calais to pick up passengers.

Fort Nieulay

The squat, solid walls of Fort Nieulay also date back to the Hundred Years War between the French and the English. Following the victory over Calais in 1346, the English built sluices here as water defences. In 1525 a fort was constructed as protection. The plan if attacked? The English would destroy the sluices and flood Calais.

In 1677, Louis XIV and his royal engineer Vauban visited Calais, were dismayed at what they saw and rebuilt the Fort. In 1940 a few soldiers managed to defend the building, but only for a few hours.

Enough of history…Fort Nieulay will be home to six iguanas. They’ll sleep in open shelters and will take small groups around the ramparts, walkways and moats.

Saint Pierre

A large iguana will live in the Saint Pierre district, the old lace making quarter which now has the superb Lace and Fashion Museum. He’ll sleep at night near Saint Pierre church under his own special glass roof. During the day he’ll take up to 15 passengers on tours through Calais.

It’s an ambitious scheme but will make Calais the city of dragons. What other city in the world can claim that?

Visiting Calais

I travelled with my partner, Alastair McKenzie (see his excellent website (MechTraveller.com – we rarely compete!), courtesy of DFDS ferries.

More about ferry companies, distances and where to stay in Ferries to France from the UK.

We stayed in a gîte that I thoroughly recommend, courtesy of Pas de Calais Tourism. It was in Wissant, a chic resort just south of Calais which reminded me a bit of Rock or Polzeath in Cornwall. The sea was full of hearty surfers (even though it was December), and the whole place has a Farrow & Ball feel to it.
Gîte Banc de Sable
23 Rue au Sablé
62179 Wissant
Website

When we were visiting it was the time of lockdown so no restaurants were open. But ordering a takeaway was simple with most of the good restaurants acting as traiteurs. I’d chosen L’Histoire Ancienne in the centre of town. It’s a great family-run restaurant which I know quite well.

We ordered a couple of days in advance and went to fetch the meal between 11.30am and 12.30pm at the back of the restaurant (perfect for parking). The chef, Patrice Comte, came out of the kitchen with the full carrier bags. Included were heating instructions that we followed back at the well-equipped gîte.

A perfect 3-course meal, washed down with copious quantities of wine which we’d bought at Carrefour in Cité Europe the day we arrived.

More about Calais

Calais is one of my favorite French cities, which always surprises friends who tend to get off the ferry and make for the south or wherever they are visiting. It has a long history – much of it intertwined with Britain, a lot to see, decent hotels and good restaurants.

And it’s on the glorious Opal Coast that runs south past two headlands, Cap Gris Nez and Cap Blanc Nez. Walk along the paths that take you past fields of sheep grazing in the fields and the remnants of World War II.

Read my Guide to Calais, and (hopefully) be convinced.

More to see in Pas de Calais.

Calais Tourist Office

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