Boufflers and Hesdin

We were up fairly early - still not sleeping well. Our bedroom has an enormous ensuite bathroom, but with no shower (yet), so I got to shower in another part of the building. Diane and Peter are not really breakfast eaters, so we had cuppas and then headed out for a short drive to Hesdin, where there is a market each Thursday.

Lots of street art in Hesdin

Garlic stall

We wandered around the market and the town. It had some interesting sculptures and an ancient city hall. We had cuppas and a Vietnamese snack called beignet (savoury rather than sweet) then decided to have a tipple and share a dozen oysters (at only EUR12 for a dozen!).

Ian in heaven with EUR1 oysters!

We headed back to the manoir for lunch - charcuterie leftovers from last night. Diane bad Peter are headed to Cyprus tomorrow, so they had to pack. Peter took us for a walk around their grounds. They have about 7 acres, but allow two of their paddocks to be grazed by cattle belonging to their farmer neighbour.

As we were walking behind their house we heard what sounded like a gunshot and I saw something flying through the air. Turned out to be a detaupeur, or mole killer.  They have pesky moles that create molehills all over their land. The molehills are actually ventilation shafts that they create and cover over with soil. When setting the detaupeur, you take to top layer off the top of a molehill and when the mole comes to repair it, a small detonator goes off, killing the mole underground! 

We walked around to the adjacent cemetery and church. There are only about 100 residents in Boufflers, many belonging to families who have been in the area for centuries. The Manoir de Gourlay was used during WWII to nurse allied airmen who had been shot down. It was part of a network of houses that enabled the airmen to be smuggled back to the UK.

Church and graveyard right next to
Manoir de Gourlay. The church is
only used for funerals.

We shouted Diane and Peter to dinner at a lovely restaurant called La Garenne in nearby Huby-Saint-Leu, one of their favourite restaurants. Ian had terrine and kidneys, while I had a warm goats cheese salad and a pork dish finishing with caramel ice cream. My pork was a little dry (apparently normal for this part of France) but otherwise the food was delicious.

La Garenne

We drove home for an earlier night as we need to get going early in the morning.