Les Ardennes, de Charleville-Mézières au Massif ardennais – Les 100 Lieux qu’il faut voir – MG

Les Ardennes, de Charleville-Mézières au Massif ardennais – Les 100 Lieux qu’il faut voir – MG

Do you like France? Do you like to explore it,
discover it, and meet it? Sometimes you even
feel like you know her well. We all have a small beach,
a small cove, a clearing, a hamlet or a path
that belongs only to us, far from the beaten track and that we
only want to share with those we love. This is the France we want
you to discover through 100 places that you absolutely must see in your lifetime. Today, we offer you a journey to the heart of the Ardennes and its ancient forest,
in a world that is still rustic, authentic and little explored by tourists. This land of passage and invasion
held the destiny of France in its hands at
crucial moments in its history. You will explore the colossal
fortress of Sedan and the star-shaped city of Raucroix. You will be dazzled by the Place du Cal
in Charleville-Mézières and its Terre d’Arcade square. You will discover places of inspiration
for musicians and especially for poets like Rimbaud and Verlaine. Tell me, I have the impression that everything in this
room has remained as it was. You will explore hunting grounds trodden
by prehistoric man and will also travel to the rhythm of
teams pulled by sturdy horses. It’s good, very, very good. Wow, these are very, very good horses. After such an exercise, you will feel
the need for solid food. It’s still good.
This is excellent. You will discover the Ardennes as you
have rarely seen them, with those who have this
territory anchored in their hearts. Our trip begins in the north of the Ardennes department, very close to the Belgian border. We are in the
Charleville-Mézières region, where the Meuse flows peacefully. Very attached to her native Ardennes,
Marion Guillot, a design student, launched a blog, Chronique d’une Ardennaise. We When we often have
negative things linked to the Ardennes, and with the blog that I created,
I want to be able to discover all the beautiful things that there are in my region. To begin, our blogger would like to
highlight the architectural gem of the town of Mésière, the Place du Cal. A place that you feel you
recognize without ever having set foot there.
For what ? This is what Marion will try
to understand with Carole Marquet-Morel, the vivacious director
of the Ardennes Museum. Hello Carole. Listen, I’m really happy to see you
because I pass by this square every day and ultimately,
I don’t know it that well. It’s always like this, the
most everyday things, we go through them, we don’t pay attention
and we forget the beauties that surround us.
So, are we going to see that? Here we go. Can you explain to me why we
have this superb place here, right in the middle of Charleville-Mézières? This place is due to a single man:
Charles de Gonzague, an architect prince. He is also known as the Duke
of Nevers, from the novels of Kpdp. He decided to found
an ideal city here, a city-state. Charleville is
an independent Principality. He is free to carry out
his architectural project. And that gives this magnificent place. We really feel a beautiful
harmony in this place. Here, we are at the heart of
classical architecture, where
harmonies, proportions and construction rules have been truly respected. And so, we have a key
to understanding this place. It’s a quadrilateral, we have four sides. It is the number four
that will truly mark the rhythm of this place. Four sides,
four domes, two pavilions on either side of the dome,
four bays, four levels. It is found everywhere. And are there any other little
curiosities like that to know? Yes, so obviously, you just have to
dwell on it, as we were saying earlier. When you see, for example, this dome here,
well, if you look closely, there are little niches. And in each little niche
there is the statue of the saints. Each neighborhood was named after a saint. Here, the Virgin,
for the Notre-Dame district. And so, when I see this square,
it still makes me think a lot of the Place des Vosges in Paris? This is normal. The architects are brothers
Clément Métézo, the architect of the Place du Cal,
and the brother of Louis Métézeau, the architect of the Place
des Vosges in Paris. Okay, well that explains everything then. Place du Cal is one of the
largest in France. To appreciate its
extraordinary dimensions, Carole suggests that Marion climb the 150 steps leading
to the top of the belfry overlooking it. So there, with this view,
we really see that the square is located in the heart of the city. This square was designed to be right in the
heart of the city. We are really in a
Roman forum, with all the functions that one can have in the forum:
the political function, the judicial function,
the religious function, it is a little behind us. And then above all,
the economic function. So, all these arches that we see
are there to fulfill this economic function? Exactly, to give activity,
craftsmanship to this place, life. So, these are shops, actually. And there were weavers,
there were bookbinders, there were glassmakers, a
whole host of businesses that Charles de Gonzague had brought
to his town to give it its economic dimension and its prosperity. And this is what completely distinguishes
Charleville from other new towns of the 17th century such as
Henri-Mont or Richelieu. So the idea was really to have
a city that was alive and dynamic. Lively, dynamic and colorful. This is what we see because we have to
imagine this place whose color variations we love with
the brick and stone today. The brick was painted red. The joints were
repainted with lead blond. We had a very, very strong contrast. The windows were tan-colored,
and all the shops down here had green shutters. It must have been impressive. Brilliant. Violently bombed at the end
of the First World War, the city was half razed. Fortunately, it was able to be rebuilt
identically, according to the vision of Charles de Gonzague. There has been much talk about Charles de Gonzague and Charleville,
but there is also a very important figure for this
city: Arthur Rimbaud. And there is someone waiting for you
in this house, who will tell you about it. She is a great specialist,
her name is Lucile, and she is 17 years old. I’ll go right away.
See you soon, thank you. It was
in this little house in Bordemeuses, today called Maison des ailleurs,
that the poet, in the semel de vent, lived during his adolescence. Marion discovers a rather
opulent interior. A surprising setting for this prodigy of poetry who has put
marginal and anti-bourgeois ideas to glass throughout his short life. I’m going to introduce you to the
most important room in the house. Here we enter
Arthur Rimbaud’s bedroom, the room in which he wrote and
slept while his family lived there. So, you have to imagine here his bed,
his desk, his shelves. So, we no longer have any furniture,
because the Rimbaud family’s furniture was not preserved. So when
exactly did Rimbaud live here? So the Rimbaud family lived here
for six years, from 1869 to 1875. And this is precisely the period when Rimbaud
began to write, when we have his most important poems. And it’s also the period when he
runs away a lot, when he goes on trips. But it is always in this room
that he takes refuge when he returns to From his window,
he had seen it on the garden of the building, and that perhaps
gave him his desires for elsewhere. And above all, it was through this
courtyard that he entered his house. You have to imagine the building with
three apartments, one on the ground floor, one on the first floor, one on the second floor. And the entrance is through the small
staircase that you see there. And you kept any manuscripts? We have five manuscripts of Rimbaud
in the collections. If you want, I’ll show you some. Ah yes, it’s the voyal poem. I remember
I learned it at star school: A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue. But I confess that I don’t
really understand what that means. You’re not the only one who doesn’t
necessarily understand. There are many researchers who have
looked into its meaning. Will
someone ever find the right one? I will probably never be known. The last one is that it
might be reminiscent of the apocalypse. I present to you here a letter from Rimbaud. This is probably the most
important letter we have in the collections. This is a letter written to his
teacher, Georges Isambard, after running away and
returning to Charleville. He said to me: I have returned to Charleville,
I am dying, I am decomposing in the flatness,
in the bad tea, in the grayness. He didn’t seem to like
Charleville very much. He didn’t necessarily have a good image
of Charleville because he wanted to discover something else. He wanted to travel. At the same time, Charleville
has always been his home port. And whenever he had problems,
he would come back to see his family in Charleville. And today, Charleville
pays permanent tribute to him. And then, Charleville has changed a lot too. For those who wanted to
escape like the young poet, send mail or simply
trade, the impressive coaching inn located just outside
Charleville was a must. It is one of the last examples
of horse-drawn transport in France. Marion absolutely wants to
highlight it on her blog. She knows she won’t find anyone
more enthusiastic and knowledgeable on the subject than
tour guide Nathalie Picard. Welcome to Ouenoy. Wow, it
really feels like we’re in another era here. Quite. Did
you see? All it takes is a few horses
and we’re off to the 19th century. We’re in the relay and we’ll see what
‘s happening with the diligences. Here we go. For several years,
the Ouenoy-sur-Vence Tourist Office has brought together a brigade of enthusiasts who bring
to life the glorious days of the coaching inn in period costumes. Most of the teams are
pulled by sturdy Ardennets. A breed famous for having
endured the terrible Napoleonic campaign in Russia. Wow, it’s really
quite impressive here. I didn’t think it was that big.
Isn’t it? Today we have a few horses,
but you have to imagine in the 19th century, 60 to 80 horses on the Apost relay. So, you need space. And exactly what was
a horse-drawn coaching inn used for? So, to go from Paris to Sedan,
whether you go on foot or with a horse or not, the same horse that would cover the entire
distance, it would take you five and a half days. How can we reduce this
time before the railway arrives? Well, for a very long time,
we have been thinking about changing the horse. Every 28 km or so,
we will have a relay of varying size, of varying importance,
this one is still very imposing, where we will be able to change teams. And to change horses,
5 minutes during the day, 15 minutes at night. It’s provided for in the regulations and it’s
as efficient as changing tires on a Formula 1 circuit. The team is well-oiled, the handlers are
ready, the horses are ready to go, already harnessed. So everyone is ready in the yard
to change horses, and at full gallop, we set off again after 5 minutes,
after 15 minutes. And in this way,
we will take two and a half days, instead of the five and a half days
that a horse would need at a walk. The journeys were sometimes slowed down
by the stagecoach robbers who were active in the region. This is why courier bills
were always topped with the phrase: To the grace of God. Above the Mézières gate,
the Watchtower. And this position, is it a
very important position? Maybe not very important,
but important, yes. He is there to announce the arrival
of the crews, but also to monitor the attics, because a fire
would damage the entire installation. There would be more fodder
for the animals. But the most important character
is undoubtedly the postilion. And so this spittlebug,
what was its role exactly? The postilion has two functions. First, he sets off with the team to the
next relay, on the carrier horse. He is the one who
truly leads the team. And then, once arrived,
the key harness, he will return at a breakneck pace, that is to say
at a walking pace, to his original relay. He seems like a
pretty important character. Did he have
any distinguishing features? Quite. A nice red suit, full of buttons,
and above all, big boots that protected him, the seven-league boots.
And why seven places? And then, quite simply because it is
the average distance between two relays. We will explain everything. Each building had a specific function
in this station where the crews generally arrived exhausted. The most important of these
was the Halle. Wow, this building is huge. Wait, look. 15 meters high,
single-piece beams. A big soul. And given its size,
I suppose there were really a lot of people in this Hall. So, people, we don’t know,
but in any case, vehicles. Yes, of course, the stagecoaches that
stop here and that we will store here, which will be safe,
but also all the farm equipment , because it is a farm too. So after that, what
kind of activity is there? Probably people
who are there to fix things. We don’t know. So ultimately, the post office
is something very organized. Quite.
Very organized, that’s it. When he stopped here, you, traveler,
coachman and postilion, needed
fortifying food that stayed in the body, like the curious poop, his bare bottom. A typical Ardennes dish
that Jérémy André is preparing to concoct for a banquet where there’s
no fear of calories. So Jeremy, can you
tell me what makes up the… Mainly the poop? So the main ingredient is
potatoes, flour and water. And the story of this famous dish? It was during the
meat shortage at the time of the war. And so, our grandmothers,
to make people believe a little that we ate meat,
they made it with lard, they made their roux and they
dipped potatoes in it. They would let it cook for hours
and hours and hours, with or without onions. There are some who use them, there are some
who don’t. And so, when we ate the
potatoes, it still gave us a little taste of meat,
a little sensation of meat. Now we add meat. The redhead in the poop
must always be brown. Light brown, but brown. In addition, everyone in the Ardennes
knows the shit. If I don’t have that color,
it won’t work. Otherwise, it’s not crap.
This is not crap. So what
can I do to help you? Well listen, I’ll let you
stir it so it doesn’t stick. And then I prepared
the flour to prepare the roux. All right. Once the bacon is nicely colored,
prepare the roux by mixing the flour with the butter.
But make no mistake. Jeremy’s proportions are intended for
a pentagonal meal for 150 people. So here we’re going to put water in and
we’re going to continue mixing. And don’t forget the essential element
of this rustic dish: potatoes. So here, we added two
smoked sausages because we Ardennays are greedy. And so, we’re going to simmer it
in the oven and then we’ll just have to add the spinning wheel
with the potatoes on top. Okay, it’s ready. After an hour and a half of cooking, you
‘ll tell me what you think. Anyway, it smells great. So now
there’s nothing left to do but enjoy. It still holds.
This is truly a rather exceptional dish. Thanks to her blog, Marion will undoubtedly be able to
recruit new fans of the game. That’s what
gives strength. And then it’s excellent.
People from the Ardennes love it. If Marion wanted to build up her strength before
the next stage in the Ardennes, it’s because it takes a lot to
storm the Château de Sedan. With its 35,000 square meters,
it is one of the most impressive medieval fortresses in Europe. Marion wants to revisit the one
nicknamed the giant of Sedan, with the curator Mélanie Lenoré. I’m glad to see you. It’s been a long time since I
visited this castle. Last time I was
dressed as a little knight. Oh well, that’ll change you. Well listen, we’re going to bring
back your memories. So many memories and history behind
these walls, more than seven meters thick. In this strategic region,
the castle of Sedan, where the famous Marshal of Turraine was born,
has seen more drama than fairy tales. The Prussian armies
laid siege to it in 1870. And during the First World War,
the citadel served as a prison for thousands of resistance fighters sentenced
to forced labor by the German army. But Marion first wants to
go back to the origins. I’m taking you to the oldest part
of the castle, where it all began. Here are the ruins of the
Saint-Martin church from the 11th and 13th centuries, which in fact constituted a
Benedictine priory with the tower that is today called the Keep. And when Évrard de la Marque built
his castle, he included the priory. So, the first castle,
the primitive castle, is the triangular courtyard that we have around us. Little by little, the lords
of the Principality, which was then Sedan,
doubled the curtain walls, created bastions and reinforced
the walls to protect themselves from the King of France. By climbing the ramparts,
you can clearly see the size of the castle, which is truly
very impressive. Well yes, it is considered the
largest fortified castle in Europe. Not for nothing,
because the successors of Evrard de la Marque constantly enlarged
and reinforced the castle to adapt it to the progress of artillery,
this was fundamental to maintain a prominent position in military terms. And what is specific to the Château
de Sedan is that instead of destroying the earlier stages, they were preserved. This makes the Sedan castle
today a true catalogue of military architecture
from the 15th to the 19th century. So, it was a real defense tool.
Exactly. And what were these defense techniques,
precisely? I’ll show you some of them. When the castle was annexed to France
in the 17th century, Vauban, the famous military architect
of Louis XIV, made few changes to this citadel, whose defence system he considered
sufficiently efficient. I will introduce you to the
castle’s welcoming committee. Ah good ?
What is this ? Here, look. Do you know what it is?
No way. Can you explain to me? So, if I tell you it’s
called a stunner. Is this where
the boiling oil was thrown? So no, boiling oil
is a myth. It was way too expensive.
We avoided buying it. So, what else do you think
it could be? Stones?
Exactly, that’s it. It was a way to get rid
of unwanted visitors. Simple and effective. Shall we go in?
Yes. In the bowels of the giant,
nothing was designed by chance, as Marion can see. It’s really, really tight here. Well yes, as you can see,
everything is really designed to complicate the life of the attackers
and facilitate that of the defenders. Besides, you see, this staircase
turns clockwise. And it is not for nothing,
because the one who climbs, who attacks the castle,
is hampered from drawing his sword and fighting on the right side. So he is tempted to switch his sword
to the left, but with which he is less skilled, so it reduces
his life expectancy. So, suddenly, the expression “passing
the weapon to the left” comes from there. Well, in any case,
that’s one of the possible explanations, yes. All right. And But in my opinion, you didn’t have to
be very, very tall either. Yeah, you’re right. It is actually another
element of passive defense. If
the assailant was successfully pushed back, he could hit the risers and knock himself out. Oh well, so that’s super ingenious. All these stratagems will provide great
anecdotes to feed Marion’s blog, provided you don’t get lost
in her miles of corridors. It’s a real maze.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s true that it’s a real colossus
of stone, seven stories high. There’s really something to mention. We were making fun of it. It’s quite mysterious around here. Yes, indeed,
I’m taking you to the lowest room of the castle to show you the base
on which the castle was built. You see, there, it’s
really the raw rock. It is the rocky promontory
on which Évrard Delamarre built his castle. Moats were dug all around it
and the stones extracted at that time were used
to build the walls. So, here, is this gift stone? Yes, it is local stone. It is called the stone of donation because it is
the most famous quarry between Cédan and Charleville. But here, it is really the stone from the site
which was used for the construction of the castle and later of the town. And what was the room used for? It was a shooting spree, actually. I’ll take you to see the openings. You see, the soldiers were positioning themselves
here to be able to defend the fortress. Oh yeah, we see her there.
The walls are quite thick. Well yes, it was necessary to be able to resist the
cannonballs. It’s really very narrow at the end. Yes, it’s done on purpose
so that the soldiers have a little more width on their side to be able to
maneuver, but the opening is narrow so that they cannot
be hit by the projectiles. And like that, they were
really well protected. And there you have it. There is no doubt that this stone giant
will resist the ravages of time for a long time to come. As
the immense Erdonesian forest has managed to do. The other treasure of the department. It is in the heart of the Ardennes massif that we continue our discovery, in the company of Philippe Boudard. This restorer, who is passionate about horses
and is keen on shamanism, built a tumulus and two dolmets
right next to his home. He likes to feel the connection that
he believes unites human beings and the spirits of the forest. The Ardennes is an immense forest,
a dense forest, a rich, warm forest. We are facing a real world and we are
also facing an imaginary, poetic and legendary world. For Philippe,
it is at the top of a steep rocky spur overlooking the small town
of Montermay that we find the most emblematic landscape
of the Ardennes and its legends. Here, the loops of the Meuse,
surrounded by forest, form one of
the most spectacular meanders in France. And it is with a brisk step
that Philippe reaches this promontory to understand with his archaeologist friend,
Maxence Peters, why and how man settled here. Hey, nice place to meet. Well yes, we have a little summary
of the Ardennes here, with the forest, the water, the rock in front of us. The rock is the rock
of the four sons and mountains. The forge must have been
going on around here for 2,500 years. Well, not many things were ready, indeed,
with the arrival of the Gallic culture, the first iron metallurgy. It vibrates, it hits, it has a rhythm, it
transforms matter. It makes me think of legends and
shamanism. Well, you’re right to talk to me
about shamanism, because we’ve talked about it a lot around here,
around the Maqdalenian engravings of Roc-la-Tour, which is just behind us. Shall we go, Maxence?
Well, here we go. Here we go. In the Magdalenian period, that is to say 15,000 years
before our era, a small massif of quartites,
called Roc-la-Tour, formed in the heart of the forest. It is one of the oldest
human-occupied sites in the region. But to get there,
Philippe and Maxence must first make their way through a dense forest. Roc-la-Tour is worth it. Every time I arrive there,
I have a special emotion. Especially since there is nothing
comparable in the Ardennes. We are truly in a
unique place everywhere. We are on the Chist,
the primary Chisteux massif. Here, the Chist is replaced
by the Quartier, which has given this unique landscape across the entire massif. Shall we look at it to see?
Yes. How are you.
Here we go ? Yes. Today, the site is regularly
used by climbing enthusiasts. But Philippe and Maxence prefer to
take an easier route to reach the place where some of
the first traces of human presence in the Ardennes have been found. So there, we can say that we
really overlook the entire valley. Yes, we have a very beautiful viewpoint
and it must have been even more impressive at the time,
since today, we have the forest which hides the landscape a little from us. And in the Magdalenian, the forest must have
been completely non-existent. No forest No forest at all. A few trees growing
in the most sheltered places, probably in the valley. But here, at the plateau level,
there shouldn’t have been a single tree. And so we had to have a
superb view all around us, 360 degrees. Do you think it was this overhang
that brought humans to these rocks? This is probably one of the reasons,
since the sites from that period in Belgium, which are the same
human groups, we could say, are more in the valleys. And here we are on the plateau, which is
normally the coldest area. But the view made it seem like it must have
been an absolutely extraordinary place to watch for game. And what was he hunting then?
The reindeer. Here, for example, I can show you. And here is one of the flints
that was discovered here. A small chisel, we have the one that is active
here, which was used at the time to work reindeer antler. So with this little flint object,
this little flint chisel, we worked objects in reindeer wood. So.
The camp is set up
just behind us. And here they watch,
they watch and they go down into the valley where they go
to the plateau to hunt. Several thousand years after
occupying these natural stone promontories, the Ardennes people
began to build fortress cities. Among them,
the fortified town of Rancroix, one of the jewels of Ardennes heritage,
located very close to the Belgian border. To show us these
fortifications cleverly camouflaged by the greenery,
Philippe takes a decisive step up to the Montmorency bastion,
where a military history enthusiast , Patrice Petit, is waiting for him. Once I’ve got through the finish,
I feel like I’m putting on armor. That’s good because here
we are in a fortified city. So, we can go and see
on one of the highest bastions of the city, a little bit
how everything is organized. My pleasure. Why was the city fortified? It is believed that it was fortified
simply because it was on the border of the kingdom, to defend
against Charles V, in particular. At whose request? At the request of Francis I and Henry II,
because Francis I had died when the current fortifications began. And when I look at
these fortifications, I tell myself that they have a rather unusual appearance.
They are not straight. No, so that’s why we call it a
star city, because it has
star-shaped fortifications and also star-shaped urban planning. And so, it has particular reasons
from a military point of view. Raucroix, star city. Raucroix, star city, that’s it. It is by really gaining height
that one can appreciate the astonishing configuration of this border town,
at the crossroads of all the roads. So here we are, right in the center
of the city, on the Place d’Armes, where all the streets converge in a star shape. All right. So, these star-shaped streets,
are they purely aesthetic or are they functional? Originally, it was purely military
because it allowed the garrison soldiers to access
the Place d’Armes very quickly and from the Place d’Armes, to
also be able to go very quickly to all the streets
which are all in a straight line. That’s why it’s
called the star city. So it’s defensive, actually.
Absolutely. In Roquereau, everything has been designed
to surprise potential attackers. Buildings were not to exceed
a certain height in order to remain hidden behind the fortifications. I imagine that since 1555,
the creation of the city, the architecture This
military architecture must have evolved? Obligatory, especially with
the evolution of artillery. The military built a siege hospital right here on this Dauphin bastion
to protect and treat civilians and military personnel in the event of a siege. So there it is, a hospital
and it is buried. There it is, buried to protect the
vaults from shells or gun shutters. In 1643, the Spanish army, which had
come from the Netherlands to capture Paris, laid siege to Raucroix,
where it suffered a bitter defeat. It is even said that it was thanks to the
city’s defensive system that the future Louis XIV was preserved. So here we enter a
new defense system. Are we in a gallery? Yes, so in fact, it is a postern which
allows you to pass from the first belt to the second belt of defense. And we have several
around here, on Raucroix. And there, it opens onto a final
defense system with loopholes. And what is this elevation? So, the military
calls it a lady. So
here we are in the position of the attacker, that is to say we
must reach the fortification. And the military created two obstacles. A first obstacle in the ridge, in stone. It is extremely difficult
to walk on. And so, if by chance,
we can reach the famous lady, we call her lady,
because once we arrive at that place, we have to hug the lady. So I’m the attacker, I
want to cross, I have to go over it. Let me hug the lady.
Exactly. To go to the other side.
So, those are two obstacles, actually. Could you give me
a demonstration, please? No, no.
I wouldn’t want to take the risk. As he leaves, Patrice shows Philippe
the place where the plans for the famous Battle of Roquereau were supposedly
drawn up: the Cour des Prés. Located in Rumuny, this vast residence,
which all the villagers nickname the castle, belongs
to Louis Marc-Avril and his family. So we are on the road
to the fortifications. When I arrive, I see a castle. Is this a castle? It is a fortified dwelling. To respond to the call of Francis I. Why were they asking for
the region to be fortified? Because at that time,
Charles V was the enemy of Francis I and the border was too open. Those who built houses,
they could fortify their houses. It was exceptional. So, in this region,
people have the right to fortify, to have houses that
look like castles when… When it’s a house. And who had a stately castle
at the other end of the village. Now, it’s true that it was
a house that was massive. And today,
since there are no more stately castles, everyone calls it the castle. Can we visit the interior? Yes. Louis Marc’s ancestor was not
an aristocrat, but a master blacksmith. These owners of craft workshops who
later became captains of metallurgical industry, largely
contributed to the development of the Ardennes. So how many people
lived in this house? So, at the very beginning,
there was Louis Martin and his wife, and then his daughter and his son.
So there were four of them. And then there were about
ten gendarmes. Gendarmes? Yes, those whose profession
was weapons. All right. This is what gave rise to
today’s gendarmerie. Can we hold a siege then? It was possible to hold a siege because there
were vegetable gardens inside the fortifications and
when there was a siege, the inhabitants of the village were warned
and they came with their wealth and therefore with their animals. Although the keep and drawbridge have
now disappeared, the doufs have been preserved,
but now there is no longer any need for a guard to watch over them. This is the guard room. It was a living room. Ten guards lived here? Yes, they lived here,
they slept here, they ate here. And for eating, did
they serve from the fireplace? They cooked
in the fire with the pot. A pot that they
attached to the rack. You can use this on high
or low heat, depending on the position of the pot on the rack. The expression pan de la crémaillère
comes from there, then? Exactly, because in fact,
until we have a housewarming party, we can’t cook,
so we can’t invite friends over. And when we invite friends,
we have a housewarming party. And after
the housewarming party, we bring them in. A little nudge, a little
flick of the eyelash, for example. Yes, okay, with pleasure. We leave the castle life
to return to Philippe’s favorite natural environment , his beloved Thierrache forest,
very close to his home, where he loves to take long walks. He has just acquired two young
horses that he must acclimatize to driving in a carriage. Today, he is accompanied by his friend
Lucien Davril, a gamekeeper who wants to show him
how he maintains this forest and its marsh. Wow, these are very, very good horses. You see, for me, Lucien,
the Ardennes is the forest. The real Ardennes, it’s true, the north of the
department is above all forested. It’s the forest you can get
lost in, but you feel good. For humility, it’s not bad. It is the immense,
vast, nourishing forest. It’s almost the sea. The sea with waves, but also the sea. There are people who say they
know the sea by having their feet on the beach. Then you have the others,
you have the real ones who know the sea from where you can no longer see the beach. As for the Ardennes forest,
it’s a bit of the same approach. I don’t know what you think,
but we’re in it, we’re immersed in it, and when you’re fully in it, you clear your head. Is this the entrance to the Marais?
Yeah, that’s it. If you can park your
horses there, right away. Huchet is waiting for us there. Suck it up, suck it up, oh, oh, oh, can you go
to the head and tie them up, please? The two friends like to revive these
horse teams which remain the only ecological means of entering the forest
and maintaining the surrounding marshes where a forced laborer awaits them. Here we are, we’re here. Yeah, that’s it, we’re on the patch
of ferns that needs to be rolled. We are in the disenchanted swamp. So, my big dog? Are you going to work?
It will do him good. Tell me Lucien.
Yes ? They say we’re in a swamp,
but it doesn’t look much like a swamp. There are trees everywhere. Yes, and especially the ferns,
but that is precisely why the creation of the regional natural park was
undertaken there. They have strong actions
to restore the marsh. Because before, with
agro-pastoral practices, the marsh was maintained. And there it is drying up. All right. Because it is colonized
by birch trees, by pines. And there we see it, the fern,
it is a sign of the marsh drying up. And that’s why we’re going to
cut the ferns. No, not cut them, roll them. It’s not the same thing,
it’s for breaking the stems. Well, there you have it. Come on, come on, big guy, come on. The marsh is a sponge that retains
water and fills the water tables. Without these wetlands,
the Ardèmes would consist of nothing more than dense forests. Left, left. So. So, the fact of the transcelles
allows you to avoid obstacles. Or not all the time,
because sometimes, when the ferns are 2.50 meters tall,
you can’t see everything, especially the stones, the stumps, etc. But it also allows us to work,
let’s say, more finely. So. So.
I’m going around there. There, there, there. So.
Go left. I don’t understand, Lucien,
why don’t we cut the ferns, we don’t mow them rather
than rolling them like that? So, it was the mistake that was
often made to cut the ferns. Ferns are not
roots, they are rhizome. If you mow them down, they will
regain their vigor and become stronger. So what we do with the
bar roller is that we cause injuries to the rods.
We make folds. To recover, the fern will
have to put all its energy into it. And when you went through it twice a year,
between June and September, for three to four years,
you eliminated 80 percent of the fern. These ancestral practices are the best
way to maintain this ancient natural environment. But since there are no longer
enough volunteers to support Lucien, other horses have recently come to help
save the marsh. So here we come to the marsh,
to the part of the marsh where horses have been reintroduced in order to maintain it.
Is that it, Lucien? Well, it’s because what populates
the marsh is a herb called molini. It is a grass that is not very appetizing,
but which can be suitable for horses. What we ask them is to eat. So, the horse,
compared to ruminants, the ruminant, spends time resting, ruminating. The horse eats between 14 and 16 hours
a day and that’s all we ask of them. Instead of the birch trees continuing to
thrive, the horses cut them down. It’s not the same plants anymore. Right now it’s dry,
but all of this would be wet. Usually, we pass by,
we have our feet in the water, there, here. When I see these horses,
I see tarpans. So, the last wild European horse. It looks very similar,
but they are domestic horses, small Polish horses,
we call them Koniks polski. And it’s true that from the outside,
they look like the tarpan that once existed in Europe. Polish or Ardennes, horses have
always been beneficial to the region. But the Ardennes are
not just forests. Further south, they give way
to vast agricultural lands where the tractor is king. It is here, in the Rotélois region, that our journey continues. A decorative painter in Louvergny,
Valérie Penel is very attached to the Ardennes where she grew up. After her years of artistic studies,
she finally decided to return to live in the region of her childhood,
a little over 15 years ago. What inspires me is… What speaks to me a lot
is this whole palette, these gradients of glass,
all these different earth colors that I can work with, that I can
include in my paintings, in my decors. And that speaks to me a lot. To begin, Valéry wants us to
discover the world of another artist who painted his pictures with
words and rhymes: Paul Verlaine. The prince of poets chose to live
here, in Juniville, in the 1880s. A museum now pays tribute to him. Valéry will go back in time with
Marc Gaillot, a passionate curator to say the least. Welcome to the Verlaine Museum.
THANKS. So, museum, but not house. Ah.
No, the house was just across the street. Destroyed, I guess.
Exactly. Destroyed during
the First World War. So, all that remains of Verlaine
in Juniville is the Lion d’Or inn, the inn where he stayed to write. Tell me, I have the impression that in this
room, everything has remained in its original state, as it was at the time. It is a building
dating from the 17th century. An inn that has survived all
the wars, typical of the southern Ardennes. And since Verlaine’s visit, it has been in the
war and is still intact, with all its period furniture. So, a typical inn
from the end of the 17th century. Typically Ardennes because it is an
enclosed courtyard, with the only opening to the outside. The Ardennes bequette
is the bull’s eye above the sink. Television of the time.
The bequette. The famous Ardennes bequette. Do you know what ”
beak” means in Ardennes? It means to look without being seen. Exactly, that’s what becquet is,
it’s seeing without being seen. A beautiful sink stone and
modern convenience with the water pump on the sink rather than outside. There must not be many people
who do this type of indoor setup. Exactly.
I’ll take you to the next room. And so here we are in the room
where Verlaine sat down to write. So a little bit out of the way. People tend to eat
in the next room. He puts himself in this room a little
to one side, while being part of the life of the village. He comes to eat his midday meals
at this table and it’s the same one. She didn’t move.
This is the one he knew. And after the meal, writing the poems. And so loose leaflets. Even on the ground,
says the owner of the place. Shall we take a look over there?
Exactly. One of my favorite pieces in the museum is
this bench. So, one of the benches in the Café
François Ier in Paris, the famous photo of Verlaine,
sitting at the bistro table, in front of his glass of absinthe. Bench that was given to us
by a collector and which has remained in its original condition, completely intact. There is no question of restoring it,
otherwise we would remove all the soul of this bench. And right next to it,
the death mask. So, cast. Yes. So that’s really very
impressive because you can see all the details, the wrinkles, the hairs. He looks sleepy and peaceful too. Yes. Malarmé, who was one of the people who made
the casts of Verlaine and Mallarmé, was in tears when they finished casting
his friend’s face, because in fact, when they removed the mold,
it tore off his eyebrows. He says: Everything is going away.
Everything is going away. Yes. This is a magnificent piece. And what you may not know
either is that Verlaine was a professor at Roteil.
Professor of what? English teacher
and drawing teacher. And an English teacher with
extraordinary methods since he makes his students speak French with an English accent. That’s original.
It’s very original. Valéry continues his journey to Roteil,
where Verlaine taught. The town is known for a
culinary specialty sold worldwide: Roteil black pudding. This traditional delicatessen has been
producing this famous black pudding for four generations. The recipe is kept at the notary
of Marie Teouis’s family. Valérie plans to reveal some of its
secrets to her butcher friend. Hello Marie.
Hello Valerie. So I know Roteil white pudding well
, but I have no idea how it’s made. That’s really great,
we’ve just started production. Are you coming?
Yes. So there we are, right here,
at the heart of the action. This is where white pudding is made. So there we have all the ingredients.
Exactly. We have pork, fresh eggs,
milk, seasoning that is measured
for the secrets of the house, salt, pepper and nutmeg, and fresh shallots. So the first step is to put
the meat in the big blender. And so, the second step
is to put in the eggs. Now I suggest
you give me the ingredients. If you want to share
this essential task with me, then it’s the secret of the house. We have salt, pepper,
two kinds of pepper, and shallots. So, that’s it? There, it’s good, we’ve seasoned it. Everything is incorporated. So
here we are really at a crucial stage where we have to grind
the meat enough, but not too much. This is where the eye comes in
, this artisan side. That is to say, you really have to be
quite an expert in making white pudding to achieve this grain
of meat and know the right moment when you are going to mix the Okay. It’s not a definite time,
it’s really the eye that… There you go. There is a somewhat defined number of turns,
but it’s the eye that counts. Okay, so now we’re
going to put the milk into the meat. But then, what is the
real origin of Roteil black pudding? It’s interesting that we’re talking about it
now, because this meat porridge that we
originally saw was the white porridge that we prepared at Christmas. And in fact, Roteil white pudding was
born from the idea of ​​a pork butcher, 400 years ago now,
who had the idea of ​​putting this porridge in a voyau and then cooking it
so that it would be more noble to present. Because he was to receive Mazarin
who was coming to visit Rethel, in his castle.
It’s more presentable. There, it was much more presentable. There, we have just put the black pudding stuffing
in a pusher, a manual pusher to be really close
to the craftsmanship and tradition of making our black puddings. So there, it’s the same,
it’s still very technical too. It’s the trick,
that is to say, you have to maintain sufficient pressure in the casing,
in the way it will push the stuffing inside. So, it must not be too
tight because otherwise, it could burst. It shouldn’t be too soft
either, because otherwise it won’t have the right weight. Christophe will show us
how to turn the portions. There, that’s years
and years of experience. So here we have some pretty strings
of black pudding that are ready to cook. So we prepared a pot with
simmering water in it, just shy of boiling, 90 degrees. So, the white pudding,
in fact, is already cooked. Once you buy it, all you
have to do is heat it up, grill it, cook it, and
garnish it as you wish. It is ready to consume.
But there you go. In any case, I would have seen how
this white pudding is really made, because I was wondering. And there I saw a beautiful
demonstration of this manufacturing. It was a pleasure. After these earthly pleasures, it’s
time for spiritual happiness. Valérie would like to show us
another treasure of the Rotélois region that she loves very much: the church of Asfeld. But the young woman knows little about the
building’s history and is counting on Jean-Marc Briouat, the
village mayor, to learn more. I am delighted to meet you so that you can
tell me about this church which has such a particular shape. Follow me, we’re going to take a step back. Yes. So, you see, Valerie, this church
is special because it will be shaped like a viola da gamba. All the specialists tell us that
the choir is the sounding board of the instrument. And that, all the rest is the handle. And the bell tower, what does it represent? Well, the bell tower represents
the artist playing the viola on… The artist’s hand, yes, yes, yes.
On the handle. The viola da gamba is an instrument
that produces a sound quite close to the human voice. So why is it
shaped like a viola da gamba? Well, you have to go back
to the 17th century for that. Asphalt, which was called Avot,
so the Count of Avot, who was very close to Louis XIV,
decided to do something special in his fief. His brother was ambassador to Venice. We know Venice with its columns,
its marble, its towers. They decided to make a
special church for the time, a Baroque church. Why is it made of bricks? Because there aren’t many
bricks around us. Yes, there aren’t many bricks. There is a lot of chalk.
The chalk is crumbly. There are no
hard stones in the area. At
the time, they built a brickyard at the exit of Asphalte
and they made all the bricks to order, concave, convex,
because it is known for having no straight lines. So, here is a beautiful rotunda. Yes. You have to try the echo of this rotunda. Yes, we’ll see, it must resonate well. Yes, indeed, the rotunda is oval. And here, in the end, we see that everything
is thought out and imagined for music. So, I see that even inside,
it has a really particular shape. Yes, it’s simple, it’s round. The special things in this church,
five chapels, five sides. And with the vault, we see that everything is
done so that we feel the music vibrate. When artists come to give
concerts, there are many concerts at Asphal, some great ones, but others,
you really feel the heart of the artist. Some artists come to
record records here. Because the acoustics are special. It feels intimate.
It’s just us. Yes, yes, yes. All the little nooks and crannies,
it’s very special, yes. All this beauty is a tremendous
source of inspiration for our painter. To paint her pictures,
she regularly comes to Ecordal to stock up on pigment,
in a place that is the pride of the Ardennes: the Moulin de couleur,
managed by Emmanuel Poit. Tell me,
what color are you working with today? Currently, we brought in some ochre
last week, so it’s a very dry ochre with
the weather conditions we’re currently having.
If you want, we can go see her. There’s Joëlle who is preparing
trays to dry her tomorrow. Okay, come on. This coloring earth factory
was created in 1866. It is the last one still
in operation in France. Here is the yellow ochre, it’s the one we
brought in last week. So this is Burgundy ochre. There, you saw, the ochre, it is
really very pure, very clean. There she is, raw in her career. You’ve already seen the quality we have,
the coloring power, just like that. Yeah, that’s a really
nice color. I really like working with ochre. But then, when it comes like that
, what do you do with it? How do you work it? First, we will put it
on trays to dry it. So the canvas will come which is there. Clayey and rich in iron oxide,
the soil of the Ardennes requires no treatment, simply know-how
and a lot of drying. So we’re going to dry them
for about 6 hours. To what degree?
Between 150 and 200 degrees. There, it’s really to remove all
the water and all the plant impurities that are inside. To have something very clean
before being able to put them in the grinder, to have the powder very fine. To be able to use it
directly afterwards. Yeah, that’s it. All right. Today,
crushers are electric. But 50 years ago, the earth was ground
by a millstone, driven by a paddle wheel. Hence its name of color mill. So I would like to know how
we go from this shade, yellow ochre, to this one.
Ochre, at the base, is yellow. If you dry it at 200 degrees,
it remains yellow. On the other hand, since there is a lot of
iron oxide inside, just heating it
to 700 degrees will make it turn red. And how long do we heat it for
? There, we count a full day,
so that makes a 10-hour dump. So, the start of heating
will be the evaporation of water. And then we will slowly increase the
temperature and maintain it for 3 hours at 700 degrees to obtain the
red ochre as it is currently there. And so then
we’re going to grind them in the same way to get the finished pigment
to use in patina, etc. Yes, that’s it. There, the lands
were dried or heated. And once all the water and
impurities have been removed, we can take them to the grinder
to reduce them to powder form. This is our land of sienna. After, the grinding. There, as you can see, in terms of fineness,
we are in the order of 30, 40 microns. We are finer than flour. This is important for the pigment. The finer it is, the better it
blends and the more color it gives. If you want, I’ll
show you the light. You will see the brightness we
have with this land. This is a shade that is very,
very warm, very, very beautiful to use in patina. You see, the land of Ciennes, there. There, it is the main pigment,
it is our Ciennes earth from the Ardennes. So, the excerpt, you have 10 km from here. Our Ciennes earth which is widely
used in heritage restoration. Like you, you who are
regularly skating. Yes, I
use it a lot in my work because it’s an earthy,
very luminous, very warm shade. And then, on top of that,
it’s the land of my country. And so, that’s something
that’s really close to my heart. Who could have imagined that the land
of the Ardennes would end up on the palettes of painters around the world. This is where our journey into the heart of the
French Ardennes ends, revealing its charm in subtle ways. It is a region that is still little known,
despite the storms of history. A natural citadel that offers the
curious its share of beauty and discoveries.

Avec ses 46 000 habitants, Charleville-Mézières est la principale ville du massif ardennais.

Pour découvrir les merveilles des plus belles régions de France, c’est ici – Abonnez-vous 👉 http://bit.ly/3zjR2Vj 🙏

Cette préfecture ouvre sur un territoire singulier où se rejoignent histoire, nature et poésie. L’histoire des Ardennes est dramatiquement ponctuée par les invasions venues du Nord et de l’Est. La forteresse de Sedan ou les fortifications en étoile – toujours en excellent état – de la cité de Rocroi en témoignent encore aujourd’hui. Ayant eu une importance stratégique, la forêt des Ardennes s’étend par-delà les frontières. Elle est parsemée de remarquables points de vue. Des marais oubliés subsistent ; des passionnés les entretiennent encore « à l’ancienne », à l’aide de leurs chevaux imposants.

Réalisé par Emmanuel DESCOMBES.
© MORGANE PRODUCTION