My adventure holiday in the country

I’ve been here in the Nord for three days now and I’ve already been fishing with Daddy in the Etang des Moines in Fourmies.. I’m ten and I caught my first fish, it was really cool! Mummy made us a Nord speciality, escavèche. She cooked in the fishing gîte, just like at home. We really enjoyed it, the more so since we are right by the water. We’re having great fun in the Nord, we’ve been climbing the trees on the high ropes course, we’ve been on all-terrain bike rides and an outing along the railway line and we’ve even been canoeing. I’m having a whale of a time and my parents are exhausted.

We’re seeing lots of places too. We’ve been to the Avesnois ecomuseum and the Bocage Visitor Centre. It’s actually an old farm. It was very good, we saw the farm animals, the blacksmith’s forge, the orchards and the kitchen garden. We got to taste some local produce: cider for my parents, apple juice for me because I’m not old enough. Mummy and Daddy bought some other 100 % natural produce in the organic market and we’re going to have a meal of local country produce, which is good for your health. 
Tomorrow I’m doing a countryside and nature course with Chloé who I met while we were pedal-boating in the Venise Verte. I can’t wait. I’m going to be learning lots of things about the local flora and fauna. We’ve even enrolled for a countryside working party with the Avesnois Regional Nature Park to learn about protecting the environment.

When I grow up I want to be a biologist or a forest warden or a wild-life photographer. .

Damien on his Robinson Crusoe “eco-logical” holidays in the Nord.

Sustainable tourism in the Nord with friends

We wanted holidays to fit in with our way of life, close to nature. Renting a Panda gîte in Hainaut was the best option for ecotourism with a group of friends. In the WWF éco-gîtes there’s a box of educational material with guides to help you identify the local flora and fauna, several pairs of binoculars and even a map of the Nord region.   
So the four of us set off to explore the Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park just by our gîte. Our daily rambles and treks on horseback really opened our eyes to the special landscapes with vast forests, marshland vegetation and the banks of the Scarpe. To the south we saw the old mining area where Nature has reasserted itself. 
On these days out in the fresh air we met so many people eager to preserve the local heritage and to show us their wealth and diversity of traditions, agriculture and local crafts. .
We brought back from our holidays in the Nord a lovely postcard of the Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park and a determination to go back again for some more ecotourism.

Stéphanie, delighted with her break in the countryside in tune with her principles.