The Audomarois Marshes

Spanning 15 municipalities in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, this marshland is an exceptional place teeming with life—a true aquatic paradise (560 km of rivers and ditches) open to everyone. Moreover, with its unique landscape, it has become a true masterpiece, a historic monument. It is a man-made creation shaped by monks and generations of market gardeners.

If you want to leave stress and the hustle and bustle behind, take a stroll through this marshland, where you’ll enter a realm of still waters and tranquil willows. A place where boundaries are blurred, borders are fluid, and when the mist rolls in, the scenery takes on a fantastical quality, blurring all sense of direction. Only a rowboat will allow you to reach the secluded shores.

The subsoil, rich in peat, has given rise to a rich and diverse vegetation. It was the peat bogs that, through their constant erosion, shaped the marsh.

The marsh is home, regardless of the season, to all kinds of bird species: wintering birds like the great cormorant, summer visitors like the cuckoo or the marsh harrier, and year-round residents such as owls, chickadees, and moorhens...

Today, it is the only cultivated marsh in France, producing cauliflower in the summer (about 9 million heads each year) and endives in the winter.

The best way to explore the marsh is by boat. In addition, guided tours will help you learn about the marsh’s landscape and human activities.

ISNOR offers a one-hour cruise aboard a small aluminum catamaran, allowing you to explore the entire marsh and pass under the lowest bridges.