La Ferme des 30

In the heart of the Avesnois, that corner of northern France sometimes called the "little Switzerland of the North," wooded hills and lush bocage countryside shape a landscape you wouldn't expect to find at these latitudes. It is here, in Neuville-en-Avesnois, at the gateway to the Regional Nature Park, that La Ferme des 30 delivers on its promise: bringing everyone together, without compromise.

The old farmhouse has kept its character — exposed stone, generous volumes, an inhabited silence — while welcoming up to thirty guests with unfailing hospitality. Eleven bedrooms divide up the sleeping arrangements, designed so that everyone can find their own quiet corner after the long, convivial meals. And long, convivial meals there will be: the barbecue stands ready on the terrace, the dishwasher handles the morning after, and the washing machine erases the traces of hikes along the Avesnois trails.

The pool is there for the afternoons that stretch on, for the children who refuse to get out of the water, for the adults who eventually give in. The hot tub belongs to the evenings — those evenings when conversation slows, when you put the world to rights beneath the northern stars. Around it, the games set up across the property do their work: they mix the generations, forge unlikely alliances, and trigger fits of laughter that nobody saw coming.

The Wi-Fi connection is there for those who need it, but the Avesnois invites something else entirely: Maroilles cheese at the local markets, sunken lanes following the rivers, Flemish villages just a few kilometres away, Belgium within easy walking distance.

What guests take away from La Ferme des 30 is not only the memory of a successful weekend. It is the surprise of having discovered a region they never knew, the warmth of a place that kept its promises, and the desire — already — to come back next year.