From medieval battles to trench warfare and power-hungry monarchs to industrial innovators, Pas-de-Calais is packed with historical sites that’ll take you on a journey through time.

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Climbing the steps to the covered platform beside the country lane, I’m struck by how ordinary it all looks. Just a large arable field on the edge of a village. But then I think about what happened here and my perspective changes. Many Anglo-French battles took place on French soil during the medieval conflict we now call the Hundred Years War, but few are as famous as Agincourt, immortalised by Shakespeare in Henry V.

Here in the small village of Azincourt – forever misnamed in history books thanks to an English nobleman with dodgy pronunciation – history comes zinging vividly to life, not just on the battlefield, where the cream of French nobility died at the hands of the English archers in October 1415, but also in the excellent museum, a must-see for history lovers in this tranquil corner of Hauts-de-France.

The department of Pas-de-Calais borders historic Flanders, modern Belgium, and, barely 20 miles away across the water, lies its sometime-friend, sometime-foe, England. My road trip along the Channel coast and inland through rolling countryside is set to take in a wealth of historical sites from battlefields to manufacturing museums to Remembrance sites.

Impressing the neighbours

Two-way traffic has sailed across the English Channel for centuries, but I take the modern way for my historical short break, driving my car onto Le Shuttle at Folkestone and letting the electric train whisk me sustainably beneath the waves to Calais in just 35 minutes.

The last corner of ‘English’ France to be recaptured by the French in 1558, Calais is a must for any history buff. From the top of the Town Hall Belfry one of many in the area listed by UNESCO you can see the remains of the English fort. Far below, Rodin’s famous statue recalls the heroism of six Burghers of Calais who, after the Battle of Crécy in 1346, offered their lives to England’s King Edward III in exchange for sparing the town. For the record, Edward’s wife, Philippa of Hainault, persuaded him to spare both men and town. Don’t miss the statues of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle in Parc Richelieu, or the one of the General with Madame de Gaulle near the Eglise Notre Dame, where they were married.

Just south of Calais at Guines lies the site of one of history’s most extravagant parties. In 1520, a 28-year-old Henry VIII met his French counterpart, François I, in an unashamed display of one-upmanship thinly disguised as an exercise in international relations. Discover the story of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (Le Camp du Drap d’Or in French) at the Tour de l’Horloge, as well as tales of the Viking adventurers who settled here and integrated with local people. Hug the coast road south and just outside Boulogne stands a 53m column topped by a statue of Napoléon who, from 1803 to 1805, kept an army of 120,000 soldiers here, ready to invade England. It’s a reminder of one historic near-miss that would have dramatically changed the face of Britain. Then head into Boulogne’s Old Town, dominated by a domed basilica with the largest medieval crypt in Europe and a well-preserved castle that now houses a museum.

Canche valley

Further down the coast, I stop at Etaples to pay my respects at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery located on the site of a vast Great War field hospital. Northern France is littered with cemeteries, museums and memorials to the conflict, and this is the largest British cemetery in France, the last resting place of more than 11,400 soldiers from World War I plus a few from World War II. It’s impossible not to be moved by family dedications that include this one to a lost son: “A little card, I am quite well; a letter next, he bravely fell.”

Turn west to discover the fascinating history of chic Art Deco seaside resort Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, purpose-built in the early 20th century, or turn your back on the Opal Coast to follow the Canche river inland towards the lush countryside of the Vallées d’Opale. I make a welcome return to the pretty fortified town of Montreuil, once a strategic river port and today a popular destination for history lovers. Victor Hugo set part of Les Misérables here commemorated in an annual festival and the cobbled square and ancient streets are a delight.

But the stand-out activity is a walk around the lofty ramparts and citadel, examples of ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV’s penchant for war games and listed by UNESCO as prime examples of work by his military architect Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban, who spread his star-shaped ramparts, bastions and citadels all over the royal kingdom, including at nearby Arras.

Higher up the Canche valley, Hesdin is something of a surprise. In medieval times, a vast pleasure park filled with automata surrounded the château of the Dukes of Artois. The town was rebuilt under Spanish rule by Charles V in the 1550s, and was later recaptured by France in 1639 following a siege by Louis III and Cardinal Richelieu. Nothing medieval remains but the magnificent 17th-century Town Hall, open to visitors, dominates the central square. Ask at the Tourist Office for the discovery leaflet.

From Hesdin, it is just 15km to Azincourt, one of six local heritage sites participating in the Escapades Médiévales passport scheme. I stop at the nearby Donjon de Bours, a beautifully restored tower house dating from the 14th century, and experience a taste of local life during the Hundred Years War.

Deep south

Just as the Donjon de Bours rose from the flames of a disastrous fire, so too did the historic market town of Arras. Virtually annihilated during the Great War, the arcades and Flemish façades around its vast twin market squares were rebuilt to their 17th-century glory during the 1920s, along with the Gothic façade of the Town Hall, which hides an Art Deco interior.

Head beneath Place des Héros in front of the Town Hall belfry for a guided tour of the medieval chalk quarries, or boves, that still connect to private cellars, and take the lift to the top for far-reaching views over Saint-Vaast Cathedral also rebuilt and the Fine Arts Museum to the distant Canadian war memorial at Vimy Ridge. Don’t leave town without visiting the Wellington Quarry, ancient quarries 20m below ground that were enlarged by New Zealand miners over a six-month period. In April 1917, 24,000 British troops lived here for a week before emerging for a surprise attack that launched the Battle of Arras close to the Western Front. With recently updated presentations, the excellent three-part guided experience includes the museum, tunnels and film. It’s intensely moving for all ages.

Human endeavour

If time permits, turn north to the former mining basin around Lens, an area rich in industrial history and listed by UNESCO as a shining example of urban regeneration. The Louvre-Lens art museum stands on the site of a former coal mine: industrial buildings have become living history museums, and slag heaps rehabilitated as nature reserves and sports facilities.

But with only a few days at my disposal, I turn back towards the Channel past a clutch of Great War Remembrance sites to the fallen of many nations, each one worth a visit. Barely 20 years later, hell broke loose again in 1939 with the start of World War II. Visit La Coupole outside Saint- Omer (a Ville d’art et d’histoire); this domed Nazi bunker was built to fire V2 rockets on London but was, fortunately, never operational, the technology later making a positive contribution to the space race.

Stop off in Saint-Omer to visit the 16th-century Gothic cathedral and the excellent Hotel Sandelin Museum, housed in a late 18th-century town house and classified a Musée de France for its rich collections spanning the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

But my favourite local visit has to be the Maison du Marais, the gateway to the protected Audomarois marshland, that tells the social history of the town’s long tradition of market gardening. Explore the visitor centre and then take a tranquil guided cruise past island homes where the postman still delivers by boat. It’s yet another unique location in an area which is rich in historic gems.

From France Today Magazine