CPETI

Just a few kilometres from the coast, this walking trail, which runs partly alongside the River Oye, is ideal for families. It invites you to explore a countryside still dominated by mills and traditional farmhouses, bearing witness to the intensity of agricultural life in these lands criss-crossed by numerous watercourses known as ‘wartergangs’.

South of Audruicq, discover the Brédenarde, a landscape of hedgerows, fruit trees and wooded countryside.Starting from Zutkerque or Polincove, take the ‘Dame aux Loups’ trail, named in honour of the Baronessde Draëck; you can admire her château, the first hills of Artois and follow the winding course of the Hem: the river of mills.

A very long time ago, the sea covered this area at high tide, but the ingenuity of the Benedictine monks inthe 10th century led to the construction of a network of drainage channels: the watergangs. This area, with its light, sandy soil, is ideal for growing chicory. Large buildings made of yellow or red brick were once used to dry chicory roots. The people made the most of this gift from Mother Nature by building mills.

This path, where land and water merge, is a walking trail that takes you alongside the watergangs (drainage structures designed to drain low-lying marshes and wetlands) and allows you to observe, with your family, the animal and plant species native to wetland habitats.

This trail takes you across the coastal plain, which stretches as far as the eye can see, and allows you to explore, within the dune system, a preserved natural area: the Platier d’Oye National Nature Reserve.

This path takes you to one of the four villages of the Pays du Brédenarde, Nortkerque, which can be translated as ‘church of the North’. Geologically, the former Pays du Brédenarde consists of a layer of clay resting on chalk that overlooks the coastal plain. It is a landscape of hedgerows, fruit trees and livestock farming. In the past, the Brédenarde also included the municipalities of Audruicq, Zutkerque and Polincove. (4) Please note: the footbridge no longer exists; access is impossible until further notice (see practical information).

Stroll along the hedgerows surrounding the orchards, discover the Chinese cemetery and the typical farms built of yellow or red brick or stone, a reminder that we are indeed at the confluence of Flanders and Artois. Then, let yourself be haunted by the ghost of the Aa, which lurks along the waterways…

From the Hennuin drawbridge, where the River Hem meets the Calais–Saint-Omer Canal – a key crossing point for boatmen – this trail will take you through the Pays de Langle, which owes its name to the shape formed by the Aa estuary in the Middle Ages. Here, perhaps more than anywhere else, the network of waterways shapes the landscape and serves as a reminder that you are in the coastal plain, in the land of canals and waterways.

Here in Hennuin, you are at the heart of the Aa Delta – in the land of the wateringues, to be precise. A five-stage interpretive trail is on offer to help you understand the importance of water management in this land reclaimed from the sea.