A hectic weekend in Greater Lille

Thursday morning, 3 coffees already... Roll on the holidays! I'm thinking of a weekend in the Nord for a bit of a change, have some fun, get away from it all, all just a couple of hours away. So straightaway, a click on the Gîtes du Nord site and I wonder whether to take a country gîte or go for bed and breakfast... A quick phone call, OK, that's fine, we'll go for B&B in the owner's own home in Greater Lille. You should have seen Sandrine smile when I went to pick her up late Friday afternoon.

That's it, we're off, a short high-speed train ride and we're in Lille! We explore the city: the main square and its Goddess statue, its old quarters and lovely shops, its Maisons Folies and its Flemish architecture. We have our first taste of regional specialities: carbonnade à la flamande with its mix of savoury and sweet, beer and brown sugar! Saturday is shopping in Old Lille with its luxury boutiques and their colourful façades.

In the afternoon, a visit to the Mosaïc gardens, a reflection of the region's cultural mix at the crossroads of Europe. What a lot of things to do and see, no time to get bored here!
In the evening we take a break and go to our B&B just 15 minutes from Lille, where our hosts, Sylvie and Damien, have a bite to eat waiting for us: what a welcome! We decide to have the table d'hôtes, sharing a meal there with the other guests: Potjevleesh and chips served on a wooden platter and washed down with a good local beer, mousse au speculoos for dessert: you'd never think you were in a countryside inn!!

On Sunday, we wonder what to do: a quick trip to Brussels in Belgium, where all the shops are open on Sundays, or the Fine Arts Museum in Lille? In the end we start off at Wazemmes market, a weekend must when you're in Lille.

Our break ends with a typical ch'ti evening in an estaminet, trying our luck at traditional Flemish games, one of the many things we'll remember until our next trip to the Nord.

Yannick, globe-trotter fallen to the charms of Greater Lille.

A family break exploring all Dunkerque has to offer

Hugo, the kids and I went for a 4 person country gîte. We wanted to show Margot the landscapes we knew as children, Flanders Opal Coast. Leo was amazed at all the boats in Dunkerque, France's third largest port, and we admired the three-masted Duchesse Anne at the Harbour Museum. As we love boat trips we went on a sea cruise on one of the ships. We made good use of the lovely weather with lots of outdoor activities, and satisfied our hankerings after thrills and excitement with a spot of water sports. So many things to choose from: fly surfing, sailing, canoeing, rowing, kite surfing and sand-yachting! It was great!  

During the week we also wanted to show the children something of the region's culture and architecture: the belfries, the Mont de Piété in Bergues, the lighthouse in Gravelines and the fortifications erected by Vauban. Back in our gîte we told them the legend of Reuze, the giant who appears at Dunkerque carnival. Before we left, Hugo took the children for their first golf lesson at Dunkerque's golf club and I took the chance to go to the LAAC in Dunkerque to see Warhol's pop art works.

We all met up again in an estaminet for a last meal of regional cuisine. Margot and Léo played the various traditional wooden games while Hugo and I played bar football with the people on the next table: the simple and convivial ambience of a typical Ch'ti evening out..

Delphine and her kids in Flanders.