A weekend in Amiens
So now I know the Somme isn't just battlefields and poignant memories.
It's also the peaceful river embracing Amiens, where I stand admiring rowers racing towards medieval houses lining ancient canals. A quayside market hawks fantastic vegetables grown a stones throw away, fruits de mer from the nearby Baie de Somme, plus myriad ducky delights. The sunlit towpath is busy with strollers, joggers and rowing coaches yelling at their crews. Read More
And then Somme
The Somme usually conjures up sombre images of first world war battles and memorial graveyards, but there is another side to this little-known corner of northern France. The narrow road from the grand cathedral town of Abbeville accompanies the meandering river towards the Channel, passing through a sleepy countryside of vegetable allotments, orchards and meadows. But as the sea suddenly comes into view and the river dramatically widens out, there is a spectacular change. This is what the French call La Baie de Somme, one of the most beautiful and well-preserved bays in France. Read More
Brilliant birds at the mouth of the Somme
Being a less than gifted painter - "Michael has made a commendable effort" was the most flattering of my school reports for art - I am rarely tempted to reach for the watercolours. But this was my overwhelming urge on first seeing the Baie de la Somme: great swathes of sea, sky, sand, mud and salt marshes in a wash of greys, blues and ochre, enlivened with splashes of green. It's technically an estuary, where the river Somme flows into the Channel, south of Calais, but the word "bay" is more evocative, capturing the area's mournful beauty. Read More
Food, drink and wildlife in France's Baie de Somme
The Baie de Somme in northern France is passed over in our rush to get to more feted destinations, but you suspect the residents would have it no other way. This vast area of salt marsh, water and sky in Picardy is only an hour-and-a-half by car from Calais, but you are probably more likely to see a dodo than a British holidaymaker in the Somme estuary. Read More
Jean Christophe Novelli's Arras
It’s a beautiful medieval town full of spectacular architecture and it’s also where one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution, Maximilien de Robespierre, is from. It played a central and tragic part in both world wars and many hundreds of thousands of men sacrificed their lives in the nearby battlefields of Vimy Ridge, the Somme and Cambrai. The climate is much like that of the UK, as it is in the north of France, but unlike some other places in France the welcome is warm and the people always have time for you. It’s also less than an hour away from Paris and only an hour from Calais. Read More
La Baie de Somme
Where does the sky begin, or the water end? It's hard to tell at low tide, when the shifting horizon of seawater and wet sand blends with the gray sky. If the sun is shining, the line is clearer, but the air shimmers and the metallic gleam of the pearly earth, gorged with water, seems to undulate in the light. At high tide, the sea is never completely transparent, so full of the sand it greedily swallows up while rushing in, and this opalescence, beige or green according to the time and season, only increases the charm of the bay. Read More
Le Touquet: I do like to be beside le seaside
Driving along the coast of northern France, not far from Calais, everything is very grey... and then I arrive in Le Touquet. Celebrating its centenary of gaining "commune" (official town) status in 1912, this colourful seaside town is a strange mélange of French and English and a place not quite like any other. Read More
Le Touquet: Seaside for all seasons
For me, it's not just a beautiful view but a nearly perfect axis of happiness. Standing in the immaculately groomed Jardin d'Ypres, I look across the rolling green lawn that runs past the charming public library at the Hôtel de Ville and then, from afar, through the central arch of the horseshoe-shaped marché couvert, one of the best markets in France, to a window of opalescent infinity at the end of rue Jean Monnet where the sea meets the sky. Read More
Montreuil-sur-Mer: Weekend to Remember
To be honest, we ended up in Montreuil last summer largely by accident. The Davidson wine lake was in danger of drying up completely so it was necessary to make a booze cruise to France to replenish stocks. An overnight break not far from Calais seemed in order. Read More
Not so sombre in the Somme
The Somme, in Picardy, is traditionally, the spiritual haunt for World War I tourism; a place where descendants of fallen soldiers go to find the graves of their father and grandfathers.
So entrenched is the Somme in its Great War provenance, that the region would be an unlikely destination for holiday-makers in search of fun and frolics. Read More
Six things you must do in...Boulogne
A visit to Nausicaa, France's national sea-life centre, gives you a exuberant, colour-packed taste of the world's oceans. You'll enjoy close encounters with about 35,000 fish - from the shy cockatoo wasp fish to rays that lie on the surface and let you tickle them. There are also sharks and sea lions but the last big tank is the best, with masses of different fish gliding and twisting to kaleidoscopic effect. Read More
The complete guide to Picardy
Thousands of British visitors to France whizz through this area on the drive south from Calais. But they're missing out on charming hilltop towns, some spectacular Gothic cathedrals, delicious regional cuisine and the moving memorials of the First World War, says Gerard Gilbert. Read More
Valloires gardens: Immaculate Conception
The border guard is approaching the car. “Passport.” He glances at my picture, bends down and stares into my evasive eyes. An aeon passes. OK. I’m guilty. I know it. He knows it. Let’s just get it over with. “…’ave a nice day, m’sieur.” And suddenly, wonderfully, I’m free. I withdraw a small glass phial and there they are, warmish but safe – my 60 French baby ladybirds. My garden in Kent looks like a set from Day of the Aphids and I’m hoping these insects will do the trick. Read More