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Luxury People Restaurants

Le Détroit Restaurant Calais + Serge Clabault

Crickets and Cockerels

The country lanes around Calais are lined with wild roses and poppies framing fields of barley and corn. This coastal restaurant in Hauts de France region though is named after the small town of Le Détroit in Normandy. The three gourmet graces of Calais are in one Corbu-on-Coast modernist block opposite the quay: La Sole Meunière | Le Channel | Le Détroit. Unsurprisingly, the focus is on seafood: “spécialités de poisons et crustacés”. Equally unsurprisingly, as the competition on either side is stiff, Monsieur Clabault’s food is top notch. On a hot summer’s afternoon, taking a Gallic break from Pimm’s and Proms, lunch is:

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Architecture Country Houses People

Fréthun Town Hall Hauts de France + Mairie

Xanadu in the Boondocks

Frethun Hauts de France © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Town hall as château. The Hôtel de Ville of the Fréthunois and Fréthunoises is terribly smart. Under the direction of the recently appointed Mayor Guy Heddebaux, it’s become even smarter: “We’ve built a square in front of the Town Hall to make the heart of the village more pleasant, more attractive.” It’s the best landscaping scheme imaginable – grassy cobbled parking spaces and brassy trellis artwork.

Frethun School © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Frethun Mairie Landscaping © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Frethun Mairie Lodge © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Frethun Town Hall © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Frethun Hotel de Ville Landscaping © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Frethun Hotel de Ville © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

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Architecture Country Houses

Fréthun Farm Hauts de France + Summer

Gîte Alors

Storied lives, crowded with incident. There’s always respite in a shadow place of contrasts.

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Architecture Fashion Luxury People

St Tricat Hauts de France + St Nicaise Church

Bronze Brawns

Well of course we’d end up in St Tricat this summer. It’s where the Big Hitters and Hot Shots are hanging out. The new St Tropez. We’re a breeze in from the Opal Coast; what’s not to love picnicking in the flatlands under the shadow of a 12th century church? La vie en rosé. Welcome to a hypernatural world.

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Architecture Country Houses

Blessed + Fréthun Hauts de France

A Strong Tower

The righteous.