Angela Bird (author of a much-praised guidebook to the Vendée region of
western France) now turns her appreciative eye on this undervalued area.
Between the Belgian border and the river Somme, she has discovered
magnificent beaches, astonishing architecture, excellent museums and
strange local traditions.

She takes you to golf-courses, gardens, playparks and coal-mines, explores
the Flanders Hills, the Seven Valleys, and battlefields from Crécy to World
War I. She looks at Amiens cathedral and Hitler's Atlantic Wall, and
suggests where to rent boats, climb belfries and watch wildlife.

The book is divided into six geographical areas:
- Dunkerque, Cassel and French Flanders.
- Calais, Boulogne, St-Omer, and World War II.
- Le Touquet, Montreuil, Hesdin and the Seven Valleys.
- Amiens, Crécy and the wildlife of the Somme Bay.
- Arras, Albert and the Somme battlefields.
- Lens, Béthune, battles of the Artois, and the mining basin.

Whether you are planning a two-week holiday in the area, just passing
through, or even on a day-trip, this book will reveal delights you never
suspected.

Whatever your interest - fine art, golf, sandcastle-building, churches,
battlefields, blockhouses, markets, bird-watching, factory-shopping,
walking, cycling - you will find plenty of suggestions here. And I have
picked out some quirky estaminets where you can often play pub games and
choose your drink from a list of 40 or more beers.

I have given a small selection of hotels, B&Bs and restaurants, but it was
not my aim to cover what others have already done so well and so
comprehensively.

My book is a complement to those publications. Look on it as a guide to
what to do between meals!

2008-04-22 absolutely essential