Jenlain
This small town a stone’s throw from Sebourg and close to Valenciennes is known all over France for the good keeping qualities of its beer, Jenlain. Brewing is the main industry for the 1000 inhabitants of the village, once famous for its button making. The Château d’en Haut farm has reminders of the 18th century lords of the village, whilst the Château d’en Bas has now been converted into self-catering holiday accommodation.
Maroilles
Washed by the waters of the Lesser Helpe where it meets the Thiérache, this town once renowned for its abbey now owes its fame to its cheese, the most delicately flavoured of France’s stronger cheeses. The town’s history goes back to 652 and the founding of a Benedictine abbey which was later sacked by the neighbouring village, but it retains its watermill with its magnificent waterwheel. Maroilles is also especially renowned for its street market on the third Sunday in June, with thousand of bargain-hunters descending on the town from as early as dawn. Nor should you miss out on the Flamiche Festival, celebrating the famous local cheeses and flamiches, flans prepared with, of course, Maroilles cheese.
Fagne villages in the Avesnois
Moustiers en Fagne
Moustier en Fagne in the Trélon Forest, close to the Belgian border and in the heart of the Upper Helpe Valley, grew up around a former priory of Lobbes Abbey. The church contains a fine altar in bluestone, a characteristic stone of the Avesnois. Nowadays it is home to a Benedictine community specialising in the painting of icons. On the edge of the village of 70 inhabitants is a Gothic country manor built of stone and brick.
The Stonemasons’ Village
Wallers Trélon
Wallers Trélon, on the edge of the Fagne country, lies in the valley of the Greater Helpe and is bordered to the north by the Trélon Forest. It is a small village of 215 inhabitants, with houses of blue-grey stone and slate roofs. The Fagne Visitor Centre in the heart of what is one of the Avesnois’ most characteristic villages, is housed in a presbytery dating from 1804 which, like the rest of the village, is constructed entirely of bluestone.
The Centre has displays exploring the geological origins of bluestone, with presentations of the many quarries and the process by which the rock is extracted. It also features the present-day geological background of the Fagne country.
Maison de la Fagne
Rue Nicolas Despret
59132 WALLERS TRELON
Tel: 03 27 59 79 96 Fax: 03 27 60 88 88
Email: ecomuseeavesnois@voila.fr
St Aubin
Saint Aubin, a small village of 392 inhabitants, lies in the pretty valley of the Tarsy to the north of Avesnes sur Helpe, the chief town of the canton. Livestock and traditional crafts and produce form the principal activities of the commune, which boasts a watermill and an elegant raised circular dance-stand in wrought iron.
Coussorle
Coussorle is a farming community situated in protected countryside. Its twin prides are its 1908 bandstand and its reputation as the leading centre for pork liver terrine, which is the theme of a fair on the second Sunday in April. In the XIXth century Coussorle experienced a spectacular boom and unprecedented prosperity thanks to its quarries and the marble industry. Its black and white marble is well-reputed throughout Europe and has been used at Versailles.
Hestrud
Hestrud is a picturesque village on the border with Belgium in the Solre le Château canton. Its café-museum was opened in 1996 in the former Customs post and traces the history of Customs, smuggling and the frontier itself up to the area’s eventual final incorporation into France. The commune, half of whose surface area is wooded, is thought to derive its name from the Flemish Heester, meaning copse or thicket..
Café Musée de la Douane et des Frontières
960, route nationale
59740 HESTRUD
Tel-Fax: 03.27.59.28.48