Blessed with a climate that includes plenty of rain and a lack of extremes in temperature, Pas-de-Calais in the north of France is like a giant garden itself, verdant and richly rural with thousands of miles of footpaths and bridleways to explore along the coast and in the countryside interior. There are ancient woodlands where bluebells and wild garlic create a carpet of colour in the spring, and wildflowers blanket the meadows along the Opal Coast. There are billowing fields of cereal crops and vegetables, rolling hills and streams, a green land dotted with pretty, rural villages and small historic towns.
Unsurprisingly this landscape provides a rich harvest of food and drink with local cheeses, meats and drinks appearing prominently on the menus of bistros, auberges and estaminets (old Flemish inns), as well as colourful cafés and fine dining restaurants scattered generously across the region.
And when it comes to visiting gardens – there’s a wonderful array to tour throughout the seasons. There are UNESCO listed marshes, ancient market gardens that you can view by boat, gardens that are spectacular and stately, charming and quirky, or practical and medicinal. There are gardens that battle a coastal environment – beautiful in summer but windy in winter – and those that celebrate fresh water and plants that thrive in damp ground. Whether you’re a keen gardener, or just love to wander around gorgeous gardens, you’ll find plenty to surprise and delight in this small northern region.
La Chartreuse de Neuville
The neat and very appealing gardens at this former monastery outside the ancient hilltop town of Montreuil-sur-Mer were originally created for medicinal and culinary plants. Organised as a kitchen garden in a series of rectangular beds, the gardens have a mission to promote biodiversity and to share botanical, medicinal and gardening knowledge that respects and values nature. The fact that most plants grown here are useful does not detract at all from the fact that they are beautiful – in fact if you’re looking for ways to make your own vegetable plot less utilitarian, there’s heaps of inspiration here. This former 14th century Charterhouse monastery is open to the public and the whole place is imbued with a sense of tranquillity that is designed to help you relax and unwind.
Floating gardens of Saint-Omer
The Audomarois marshes (Marais Audomarois) in Saint-Omer, around 30 minutes from Calais is unique. This wetland lies at an unusual intersection of coast, Flanders land and Artois hills. The area, designated a biosphere reserve by UNESCO, has been cultivated into a floating market garden, and it’s the only one of its kind in France. Walk the Marais’ paths and buy direct from the growers as you meander (or at the Saturday morning market in the town). Take a guided tour by boat, or hire one and float to your hearts content enjoying the pretty gardens of houses sat on their own little islands and the market gardens where the rich soil and climate produce vegetables galore (this is the cauliflower capital of France, producing some 7 million per year). Head to Faiseurs des Bateaux, the traditional boat makers workshop on the marshes, where there is also an outdoor restaurant from April to October with vegetables supplied from the magnificent, organic market garden next door.
Les Jardins de Séricourt
With the distinction of being a Jardin Remarquable, this garden between Arras and Hesdin is just lovely. Whatever season you visit in, there’s something to admire, from the formal yet playful topiary gardens and thought-provoking sculpture and design in the war and peace garden, to the Japanese gardens, filled with the largest collection of the nation’s roses in Europe. It has one of the most spectacular displays of summer roses you will ever see, with fragrant rambling and climbing varieties and colourful clematis climbing and weaving its way throughout. With an exhibition space and an English tearoom on site, these gardens with their carefully orchestrated structure and informality, are the perfect place to while away a day.
Le Jardin des Lianes
Another jardin remarquable, very close to Hesdin, Le Jardin des Lianes features specimen trees that provide colour from spring right through to autumn. The garden has swathes of fragrant viburnums, drifts of romantic hydrangeas, including many Japanese varieties, and 400 different English and traditional roses.
Château Flore
15 minutes east of Hesdin (which has a superb Thursday morning market), this garden surrounds the castle that gives it its name. Owned by the same family since it was built in 1717. It’s owned and run by Alexandre de Boncourt and his English wife Ithaca. Alexandre’s father created the existing gardens that form a beautiful and elegant backdrop to the imposing chateau. There is a fragrant alley of English lavender, an edible and medicinal arboretum and a very impressive collection of hydrangeas.
Close to Château Flore, at Bermicourt, is the memorial to the British Army Tank Corps led by General Haig in World War One from headquarters at the Château de Bermicourt. The original scale model of the Mark 1 tank was removed during World War Two and scrapped. The current replacement was installed in 1955 by the Royal Tank Regiment in honour of their predecessors.
Le Jardin du Château d’Hardelot
Hardelot Castle just minutes from the beaches of Hardelot. Built by Englishman Sir John Hare on the site of a medieval castle which was largely destroyed many years before, it makes for a fascinating visit with rooms that are sumptuously decorated. Visits to the formal parterre gardens are free and feature a mix of Renaissance and Tudor elements commemorating King Francois I of France and England’s Henry VIII who famously jousted nearby at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in Guines. There is a nature reserve alongside the castle, walks through the dunes to the beach and the site itself has a theatre and a tearoom.
Le Jardin de la Goutte d’Eau
This jewel of a garden just outside of Montreuil-sur-Mer celebrates moisture-loving plants in a series of English-style garden rooms. Around three-quarters of an acre in size, with a pond and woodland as well as a rose garden and vegetable gardens, there are quirky and interesting sculptures, arbours and decorations throughout the garden that provide plenty of inspiration for those who like to upcycle and reuse materials.
Wild ‘gardens’
The forest of Boulogne-sur-Mer is the largest in the department, covering some 4000 acres. It’s a haven for wildlife including protected bird species. with routes for walking, mountain biking and horse riding. In Spring, when the bluebells hibernate, the ground is covered in wild garlic, first said to have been planted by the legions of Julius Caesar whose camp was close by.
The cliff tops of Les Deux Caps are home to many varieties of wildflower and fauna. Protective paths lead you through the sandy landscape, alive with colour year-round. The fields are filled with poppies and daisies in the spring, and as the sun warms the land the summer crops come to fruition, a kaleidoscope of colour.
In Autumn, everywhere the woodlands that spread across the countryside, take on a golden hue, dramatic colours can be seen throughout the area making you stop in your tracks.
Lush and undulating, fields hedged with hawthorn, wild roses, blackberries and sloe berries, speckled with hamlets, dotted with forests and fringed with stunning coastline – Pas-de-Calais’ great outdoors is one big garden.
Find out more
For locations, opening times and further details on these and the many, many more gardens and garden related events in Pas-de-Calais, as well as mouth-watering restaurants, enchanting places to stay and lots of information about the region visit visitpasdecalais.com
All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.
