L’Été le Plus Merveilleux
“Yes, next summer will be wonderful.” Monsters by Emerald Fennell, 2015
The Opal Coast is yet again where all the big hitters are headed as the mercury rises and if it was good enough for Napoléon III … Wimereux has glamour in spadefuls.
Frédéric Debussche et al write in Le Guide Boulogne-Sur-Mer, 2013, “To the north of Boulogne, beyond Pointe de la Crèche, extends the pretty seaside resort of Wimereux, established as a commune in 1899. Until then, the site constituted the maritime fringe of Wimille, where the nobility of Boulogne built opulent castles including Lozembrune. Established in an indentation of the coast, Wimereux was until the middle of the 19th century both the outpost and the extension of the Boulogne defence. Napoléon I built a point there and stationed 8,000 men as part of the Boulogne Development Camp. It was on the beach that his nephew Louis Napoléon Bonaparte ran aground in 1840 during his attempted coup d’état. After the Second Camp of Boulogne, led by the latter who became Napoléon III, Wimereux became a popular vacation spot. A casino and sumptuous hotels stand on the seafront and contribute to the emergence of the seaside resort whose appeal has never waned and in which the numerous Belle Époque villas were spared by the bombings of the last war.”
Benoît Diéval of the Pas-de-Calais Tourist Office doesn’t hold back: “Wimereux is timeless and utterly ravishing! It might be the oldest of our seaside resorts, but what panache! Wimereux was officially established by a decree issued by Napoléon I ordering the foundation of a town along the River Wimereux. It really came into its own during the Second Empire with the extension of the Boulogne to Calais railway line and the popularity of sea bathing. Wimereux continues to seduce visitors.” In 1867, Wimereux became a stop on the Paris to Calais line.
It’s a tiny town of vibrant villas and blue and white beach huts. At the end of the 19th century, exuberant Anglo Norman terraces, Art Deco villas, Gothic compressions of châteaux and actual châteaux were built along the seawall and accompanying grid of streets. Houses representing the tastes and foibles of some residents navigating their ascent up the social hierarchy, others plateauing. The architecture is more colourful than its English counterparts – late Victorian and Edwardian – with gaily painted half timbered gables and ceramic tiled walls. Balconies and bow windows and towers and turrets spring up and out in all directions.
In 1900 the beach huts were erected in a long row, sometimes two deep, along the promenade La Digue. Their names on a central stretch are Anne Florence; Le haut Courtil; Manou; La Flambée; Les Sternes; Bon Accueil; Antoinette; Horizon; Le Plessis; Lalot; Régina; Notre Dame des Dunes; Les Perles; Mickey; Graziella; Rud Vent; Madame Claude; Bonne Maman; L’Arche; Avant la Tempête; Charlotte; Sabine; Kerida; La Marmaille. A door sign on one hut states: “C’est pas Versailles ici!”
QR Codes on the pillars of some of the villas link to Valorisons Wimereux. This heritage society provides details of the architectural history of the town, emphasising its stylistic variety. A petite two storey gabled rendered house with single storey wings: “Napoléonette is one of the oldest villas in Wimereux. It was built in 1867 for Jean Lartigue, a senior civil servant.” A three storey over raised basement rendered house with a corner tower: “La Malouine is named after the first owner’s mother who was from St Malo. This magnificent Art Deco villa of 1910 has survived the wars.” A squarish two storey house with a semicircular pediment: “Sans Adieu was built in 1913 by the architect Emile Vandenbeusch as a second home for Paul Vermelle of Lille. It is a resolutely modern house for its time, made of local stone.” A substantial two and a half storey red brick and stone house: “Villa Le Clos Flamand was built in 1922 by the architect Charles Bourgeois for the Lesay family of Lille.”
Rue Carnot is the classy shopping street which bisects the town roughly north to south. Purveyors of fine food include the charcuterie La Belle Viande and the chocolaterie Chocolat de Beussent Lachelle. Wimereux is blessed with four glorious Channel beaches. The sandy Plage de Wimereux is the most central. Plage Nord is separated from Plage de Wimereux by the River Wimereux. Plage du Club Nautique, a mix of sand and pebbles, is for water sports. Sandy and pebbly Plage Dunes Slack is close to the cliffs. Benoît Diéval is right. Wimereux is timeless and utterly ravishing!
Yes, this summer in Hauts-du-France is monstrously wonderful.
