The slate roof of a steeple glints in the sun, a babbling stream emerges from woodland, and hedges of wild roses border country roads and tracks… This is a different world, this is the Avesnois. In this Regional Nature Park where rock roses and wild carnations still bloom, Nature is sometimes peaceful and well-suited to pleasant walks, sometimes bewitching and secretive. And the solidly built churches, the imposing farmsteads and the walled towns remind us that this historic land has a truculent, resistant past. Museums bring back to life the traditional skills associated with metal, wood, textiles and glass, while restaurants and local produce remind us that such skills and craftsmanship are also, here, natural. This is, after all the home of the great Maroilles cheese. So let your emotions, your instinct and your sense of pleasure be your guide…