Touring North Calais Staying in your holiday home in this charming and scenic region of France is a splendid way to pass your days. Should you decide to venture out, you have lots of destinations to choose from.
A visit to the Abby of Valloires and its sumptuous gardens will have you shaking your head in wonderment. The abbey itself is a thing of beauty, while the gardens are truly magnificent, with poetically named sections (try the “Garden of the Five Senses”!).
In Maintenay, you can visit a water-powered flour mill, family owned since 1850. In its beautiful riverside setting and against a lush green backdrop, you can savour the delicious bread, baked in the mill’s wood fired oven.
Merlimont is on the coast, where you can enjoy a walk through its pine forest or over its sandy beach. A little further on, you will come to Berck-sur-Mer, a charming seaside town, named for the tall sand dune. Here, you can enjoy the beach with its bracing breezes, and admire the skills of kite flyers.
A more somber but appreciative mood prevails with visits to the various war memorials that commemorate the region’s turbulent history. | Calais Activities Without the scorching heat of the Riviera, beach life is rather more constrained here. Le Touquet still gets lots of visitors, and kids from eight to eighty-eight will love flying kites on the beach at Berck.
Napoleon ordered trees to be planted alongside the roads to shelter his armies from the sun. Now these plane trees offer shade to cyclists in this most bike-friendly nation. This is ideal cycling country, with long gradual climbs, gentle flat riding along the tops of the plateau, fast descents into the valleys where tiny villages clustered around bubbling streams; all against a landscape of open fields and skies.
Birding and bird watching can be rewarding here, as a number of rare and scarce species can be found in the Pas de Calais, including the Great Reed Warbler, Bee-eater, Common Rosefinch and Black-winged Stilt.
The region’s many rivers provide ample opportunities for fishing, and anglers can catch sea trout in the Authie. Canoeing and kayaking are popular activities, and what better way to appreciate a riverside than with a picnic.
The region also boasts numerous golf courses and equestrian centres. |
 Calais HolidayPerhaps some people would like to keep this region a secret: convenient access to coastal towns of Berck and Le Touquet, as well as the popular market towns of Hesdin and Abbeville, scenic walks, cycling along quiet country lanes, fishing in picturesque rivers, golf, historic battlefields of Crécy and Agincourt and 2nd World War museums at St Omer and Albert and lovely fishing villages of St Valery. All this adds up to an extraordinary and rich holiday experience.
Add to this the fresh produce that adorns the table, and what more could you ask for? Fish, mussels, oysters and shrimp hold pride of place, along with duck pâtés and ficelle picarde (a ham and mushroom pancake). Macaroons and Beaten Cake (shaped like a hat) satisfy the sweet tooth, while local brewers compete with their Belgian neighbours in the production of high quality beers.
The beaches of Calais are made for fun, especially kite flying in Berck. The grand Abby of Valloires is art in itself. For an easy going day out, head over to the Hesdin Markets to see how the locals live. Land your own catch of the day by fishing on the Authie and experience the countryside by cycling in Calais. We hope our North-Calais Tourist Information Guide has given you tips to help make this holiday the best it can be! |
