Imagine turn-of-the-century villas hanging from a huge cliff buffeted by waves, a shingle bar protecting meadows and fields where birds take refuge, a dry wooded valley still bearing the traces of a popular nineteenth century holiday resort. You are in Ault Onival and the Bois de Cise estate.
Like neighbouring Mers-les-Bains, Ault had its moment of glory at the turn of the XIXth century, with the arrival of the railway. Parisians had the idea of building, on local land, the holiday resort of Onival, which rises in terraces, in the North, in a balcony on the cliff and, in the South, the Bois de Cise residential estate nestling in a dry valley.
Ault was a very active fishing port in the Middle Ages. From this period comes St. Peter's Church (patron saint of fishermen), founded in 1340 and built in the upper part of the village to replace the Notre-Dame Church, which was threatened by the sea.
Built of sandstone and flint, the building was extended to accommodate the sudden increase in the population, following the burning of Eu in 1475 by Louis XI, who was afraid that the town would be captured by the English. The church was later modified in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries.
Ault has something for all who love the sea. It is all around. Firstly, there are the views on leaving Ault for Onival from right along the balcony built into the cliff, or from the viewpoint indicator at the Bois de Cise.
The view is captivating of these immense chalk walls battered by the sea, stretching through the salt marshes, protected by their shingle bar. Further along you have the Baie de Somme and the Le Marquenterre dunes. In short, a kind of miniature Picardy Coast which might have been specially created to give a lesson on living geography.
Then there are three planned and supervised beaches and a watersports centre.
Finally, between sea and land, the 450 ha of the Hâble d’Ault, give you the opportunity to view nesting and migrating birds and unusual flora.
This article is copyrighted by Le Tourisme dans la Somme
Tourist information about another destination in France