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| to do | |
| things to see and do around Oeuf | |
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| market towns nearby | |
| Within a radius of fifteen kilometres around Oeuf there are three market towns, none of them with more than six thousand inhabitants: Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, Frévent and Hesdin. | |
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Saint-Pol was severely damaged in both World Wars but it still has some assets making a visit worthwhile. One of them is the park that has been created around the ruins of the castle (photo: open air theatre in the park). Another is the Musée Danvin on the rue Oscar Ricque (photo) where -amongst other things- local archaeological finds are shown. Admission to both is free. Weekly market on Monday mornings. See the extensive website on Saint-Pol. |
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Frévent has the Moulin-Musée Wintenberger as its main attraction, an old watermill in which an interesting agricultural museum has been established. Other than that Frévent has some fine monuments like the beautiful town hall (photo), the church dating from the sixteenth century (photo: church tower) and a large chateau (Cercamp, this currently houses a school and cannot be visited). Near the town hall is a small archaeology and art museum, the Musée Louis Ducatel. The museum was named after a famous Fréventin, engineer, politician and artist who even stood candidate for the French presidency in the 1969 elections (not very successful though, with a mere 1,3% of the votes Ducatel lost to Georges Pompidou). The museum shows mainly paintings by Ducatel. Weekly market on Tuesday mornings. |
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Hesdin is no doubt the most beautiful of the towns around Oeuf, rich as it is in monuments of which the town hall (once a palace of Maria of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, photo) and the church (photo: entrance) are the most important. In some former prison cells in the town hall an exhibition on the eventful history of Hesdin can be visited, admission is free. Weekly market on Thursday mornings. More information on Hesdin can be found here. |
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Arras is a half-hour drive East of Oeuf and is not to be missed, mainly for its monuments (photo: one of Arras' famous squares) and museums. See this website for full details. At the same distance but in the opposite direction lies the fortified town of Montreuil (photo: entrance to the citadel), a must see as well. See the Montreuil website. |
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| the coast | |
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The coast (officially: Côte d'Opale) is a fifty minutes' drive from Oeuf and offers many options for a day trip. One of them being the fashionable town of Le Touquet Paris Plage. Its architecture alone is well worth a visit (photo: town hall). Nature itself provides many beautiful sites along the coast, like the Cap Gris Nez and the Cap Blanc Nez (photo). See the comprehensive official touristic site for the Pas-de-Calais. |
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| flea markets and second-hand shops | |
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Markets A very popular way to spend a Sunday morning or afternoon is rambling through an authentic French flea market (usually announced as brocante) which are plentiful in our region (photo top of page and left: flea market in St. Georges). In my experience the small village brocantes are often best, the larger ones attracting more professional dealers and having a less relaxed atmosphere. Alas, the smaller brocantes are not always announced in the guides and magazines that are published for this purpose. Better therefore to check the signs next to the road and the announcements in the regional weekly l'Abeille de la Ternoise. |
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Shops Recycled furniture, appliances and much more are for sale at ATRE (a project for the unemployed) in Saint-Pol. ATRE, 122 rue de Canteraine, Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise. A gigantic Emmaüs (a charity for the homeless selling recycled goods) is located in Bruay la Buissière (thirty kilometres North East of Oeuf). Emmaüs, chemin des Dames, Bruay la Buissière. |
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| sound and light spectacles | |
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In a number of places (Montreuil, photo, to name one) sound and light spectacles (spectacles son et lumière) are held during summer evenings. They usually portray a local legend or historical event against the backdrop of a scenic monument or ruin. A huge cast (often a large part of the local population), horses and fireworks are the standard ingredients of such an event. The spectacles are always widely advertised. |
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| various outings | |
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In Maintenay, 35 kilometres West of Oeuf, a very old watermill (photo) can be visited. It is fitted out both for grinding grain and sawing wood. Part of the complex is a traditional bakery which bakes its bread in a wood oven. Moulin de Maintenay, tel 0321942060 (from 9.00 AM until 1.00 PM) or 0321904374. |
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In Nielles-les-Bléquin, about forty kilometres North of Oeuf, a stretch of ten kilometres of abandoned railway has been cleaned up which can now be used for rail cycling (photo). Even uphill the cycling takes surprisingly little effort. Advance reservation is necessary, see the website. |
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In Naours (Département de la Somme, 45 kilometres South of Oeuf) an extensive system of caves, thirty metres underground, can be visited (photo: chapel cave). Make sure to bring warm clothing as it's always chilly underground. Next to the caves is a playground, a minigolf course and a park. See the website. |
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| © 2005 - 2010 Rob Zeldenrust, Oeuf-en-Ternois, France. | |
