AISNE A sparkling adventure in Aisne


Aisne produces 10 per cent of all champagne – enjoy tastings, tours and vineyard visits at producers such as Météyer


Leaving Meuse and heading west, then north, on the A4/A26 you reach the historic town of Laon, one of the Aisne département’s showstoppers, and its capital. Siting majestically atop the


Montagne Couronnée (Crowned Mountain) in wheatfield country, the eye-pleasing nook initially enjoyed great wealth thanks to its wine industry (ruined by phylloxera at the end of the 19th century) and was also a garrison town. Its skyline is dominated by


the spectacular Notre-Dame Cathedral, completed in 1235 and one of the first primitive Gothic church buildings in the world. Its statues were renovated from 1854 to the start of World War One, when the cathedral served as a field hospital. Look out for stone


depictions of oxen, whose efforts in lugging the limestone up the hill for the cathedral’s construction are honoured. Next door, meanwhile, the former Hôtel-Dieu houses the tourist office. Laon’s narrow, medieval streets


are a joy to explore: seek out the Museum of Laon, used as a makeshiſt synagogue for German Army Jews during World War One, and beside it a rare Templars’ chapel. There are lovely boutiques to browse and restaurants to enjoy – try local Picardy speciality, ficelle picarde, a ham and mushroom pancake slathered in cheese. Also noteworthy: the town was


home to Suzanne Noël, one of the first plastic surgeons, and another Laonnois, Jacques Marquete, was the first European to explore the


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Mississippi River Valley in the US. Around 45km north of Laon is Saint-Quentin, whose resurrection following 80 per cent destruction during World War One (it was on the Hindenburg Line, and all of its occupants leſt in March 1917) is especially significant thanks to the abundance of Art Deco buildings that came to prominence during the 1920s. Spot the blend of brightly-


coloured edifices lining the main square: mixed in with Art Deco are Flemish- and Baroque-style façades. A look around the Hôtel de Ville


(1509) is essential – the flamboyant Gothic exterior with 173 sculptures is impressive enough, and the regular chiming of the carillon bells is delightful. But most eye-catching is the Louis Guindez-designed Art


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