Hesdin is a small market town in the green valley of the Canche, in the Pas-de-Calais, and it owes its existence to an act of destruction. The original town, a few kilometres upstream, was razed in 1553 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a new fortified town was built here the following year as a strongpoint on the frontier between France and the Habsburg Netherlands. The grid of streets and the large market square still follow that plan. On the square stands the town hall, a former palace of the Habsburg governors, with a beautifully carved Renaissance balcony from which proclamations were read, and its belfry is part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France.
The town's best-known son is the Abbé Prévost, the eighteenth-century writer whose novel Manon Lescaut inspired operas by Massenet and Puccini. A short ride to the north lies Azincourt, the site of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, where the army of Henry V of England defeated a much larger French force. A museum in the village tells the story, and the battlefield itself is now peaceful farmland.
The Canche valley is lovely, a green, gentle landscape of meadows, woods, small villages and a river full of trout. The river winds west towards the sea at Étaples and Le Touquet, and the valley roads follow it closely, with gentle curves and little traffic. To the east and south, the land rises onto chalk plateaus with wide, open views, and the Authie valley offers another quiet route.
The weather in this corner of France is changeable, with frequent rain and wind, and sudden showers can make the roads slippery. Cobbles are found in the old town centre, and the narrow streets around the square can be busy on market day, when stalls fill the square with produce, cheeses and local specialities.
Hesdin and neighbouring Marconne have shops, cafés and basic services, but for a wider choice of fuel the nearest larger town is Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, about twenty-one kilometres away. Sit on the square with a coffee and look up at the Renaissance balcony, or try a local beer and a plate of Maroilles, the strong cheese of the north, on bread.