Gîtes and Villas in Northern France

Northern France offers British holidaymakers an accessible slice of French life without the long drive south. This is a landscape shaped by rivers, marshland and centuries of cross-Channel exchange—close enough for a long weekend, different enough to feel like a proper escape. The self-catering gîtes in this area put you within reach of UNESCO Gothic architecture, First World War memorials and waterside quarters that predate the industrial age.

You're an hour or so from Calais, two from Paris, yet the pace here is decidedly unhurried. Market towns reveal themselves slowly: cobbled squares, brick belfries, canals edged with kitchen gardens. It's a region that rewards curiosity rather than checklist tourism, and having your own base means you can explore at whatever rhythm suits.

About Northern France

Northern France sits between the Channel coast and the Belgian border, a broad swathe of farmland, former mining villages and medium-sized towns that have reinvented themselves without losing their industrial grit. Amiens and Arras anchor the region; both were rebuilt after the First World War, both retain older quarters that survived the bombardments. The Somme meanders through water meadows and marshes—some still farmed in the medieval style—while further north the rolling chalk uplands of Artois bear the scars and memorials of 1914–18.

This isn't chocolate-box France. The architecture runs to red brick and slate, the climate to grey skies and sudden showers. But there's a straightforwardness here that feels refreshing after the more obviously picturesque regions. People stay in the area because it's practical—close to the ports, affordable, genuinely local—and because once you start looking, there's more going on than first impressions suggest. The food is rooted in Flemish and Picard traditions: beer, cheese, tarte au sucre, market vegetables. The museums take history seriously. And the countryside, particularly along the Somme valley, has a quiet, watery beauty that grows on you.

Things to do in Northern France

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens is the largest Gothic cathedral in France, a soaring space of stone lacework and medieval colour that justifies the drive in itself. In the same city, Les Hortillonnages offers guided tours by traditional cornet boat through a network of floating market gardens—vegetables have been grown on these marsh plots since the Middle Ages. The Jules Verne House, where the novelist lived and wrote for nearly two decades, sits on a leafy boulevard and gives a sense of his working routine and obsessions.

North towards Arras, the Mémorial National du Canada à Vimy stands on reclaimed battlefield, its twin pylons visible for miles across the plain—underground, you can walk preserved trenches and tunnels. In Arras itself, the Carrière Wellington takes you twenty metres below the Grand' Place into the chalk quarries where British troops sheltered before the 1917 offensive. The Grand' Place, with its Flemish-Baroque façades, is one of the finest town squares in northern Europe. For a change of tone, the Zoo Amiens Métropole offers a decent afternoon out with children, and Parc d'Olhain—part adventure park, part nature reserve—has walking trails, water sports and rope courses in mixed woodland.

Food & drink

Northern French cooking leans Flemish: slow-cooked carbonnade, potjevleesch (a terrine of mixed meats), leeks in vinaigrette, endive in cream. Maroilles is the local cheese—pungent, washed-rind, essential in the flamiche tart. Markets remain the best bet for picnic supplies; Amiens and Arras both hold lively Saturday gatherings. Beer matters more than wine here—breweries in and around the old mining towns produce blonde, amber and seasonal styles worth seeking out.

For everyday shopping, Shopping Promenade Coeur Picardie is a modern retail park that includes food outlets and receives solid reviews. You'll also find well-stocked hypermarkets—E.Leclerc branches in Arras and Salouel both score respectably—where you can pick up regional products alongside the usual French supermarket range. Self-catering here means you can eat well without ceremony: good bread, local butter, whatever looked best at the morning market.

Getting there

Lille Europe, eighty-two kilometres east, is the obvious Eurostar gateway—trains from London St Pancras take around ninety minutes, then it's an hour's drive west into the region. Calais, one hundred and five kilometres north, serves foot passengers on DFDS and P&O ferries as well as Eurotunnel vehicles; reckon on an hour and a half by road once you're through the port. Paris Charles de Gaulle lies one hundred and ten kilometres south, useful if you're flying in or connecting from elsewhere in Europe. Dunkirk ferries (one hundred and seventeen kilometres) are another option, particularly if you're starting from the East of England. Whichever route you choose, the motorway network is efficient and Northern France is comfortably reachable within a day's travel from most of Britain.