Photo : Havang(nl) / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
With its symmetrical and elegant 18th-century architecture, the Château de Cocove, in the Pas-de-Calais, was the scene of many festivities. Today it continues this tradition, hosting family and corporate events around a restaurant known for its quality.
It makes an ideal stop before taking the ferry to England or setting off along the canals towards Bruges. It is not open to visitors.
Built from 1560 on the foundations of a medieval castle raised in 1229 by Philippe Hurepel, Count of Boulogne, the Calais citadel was later strengthened by Errard, Henry IV's engineer, and then by the engineers of Louis XIII and Louis XIV.
The earliest known mention of the lordship of La Besvre dates from 1202, when Wenemarus de le Beverne witnessed a charter.
Etymologically, Créminil would mean "chalk manor". The castle was probably built in the fifteenth century on the ruins of a bastide destroyed by the English after Crécy.
Molinet's chronicle mentions in 1479 'a castle named Liettes, newly built by Simon de Luxembourg, provost of Saint-Omer'.
Vauban designed the Fort Vauban at Ambleteuse... It is the only remnant of the great works undertaken to re-establish a military port facing England...
Romantic sentinels, the medieval towers of the Château d'Hardelot (or Ardrelo), overlooking the Miroirs and Claire Eau lakes and the surrounding landscape, are remains of the old fortress.