We have been coming to Wissant for decades. We first visited in the early 1990s, shortly after we moved from Brighton to Kent and bought our first home together.
My husband was completing his final year studying for his Law degree at the University of Sussex, whilst I worked as a Science teacher in a grammar school in the then gritty Medway towns. So money was tight, but we had some fun escapades.
Dover was a twenty-minute drive down the A2, and at that time, there were plenty of cheap ferries, and the new Eurotunnel service offered amazing deals.
On one such trip, we drove along the picturesque coastal Calais to Boulogne D940 road, looking for somewhere to eat. We discovered Wissant quite by accident. We stopped in the car park behind the Mairie and enjoyed a delightful lunch at Hôtel de la Plage, then owned and run by Michel Coënen.
Photo: Hôtel de la Plage
There was an impressive cheese trolley, serving amongst other cheeses Le Sablé de Wissant.
Photo: Fromagerie les Frères Bernard
After lunch, we found the almost hidden beach, at the bottom of a gentle hill, between the two headlands Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez. The word Wissant is Flemish in origin and means “White Sand”. The 12 km stretch of truly white sandy beach and dunes is breathtaking, whether at high tide or low tide, summer or winter.
You can find out more about Wissant in my previous article here:
Wissant 1 - a history
Photo Stephen Halpin Wissant bay and Cap Blanc-Nez
La Ferme du Vert:
Photos: author
Fast forward sixteen years and my husband and I remarried at the same Mairie in Wissant.
Photos: Stephen Halpin
We celebrated our reunion with close family and friends and a delicious meal, wine and home-made farm cheeses at La Ferme du Vert, just outside the small village of Wierre-Effroy in Le pays Boulonnais, a short twenty minute drive inland from Wissant.
Photo: author
We chose La Ferme du Vert because we had discovered the farm and hotel, after eating Le Sablé de Wissant cheese on our first visit to Wissant. And we have returned to stay and eat at La Ferme du Vert many times since then. So many wonderful memories - on our own for a romantic weekend; with sisters and nephews and close friends.
In 1980, aged 42, Joseph and Annie Bernard, decided to begin a new life with their five children. Joseph sold his law firm and together they bought the farm in Wierre-Effroy.
Photo: author
The location was no coincidence: “It's my mother's home village,” explains Joachim Bernard, their son, whom I met earlier this year in May. “My grandfather, a farmer, had been the mayor.” So, Joseph and Annie chose Wierre-Effroy.
Photo: author
Their project was motivated by a desire to live a better quality life, close to Nature with healthy, sustainable local food and to offer city dwellers a return to calm and homemade products.
Photo: author
Joseph and Annie opened the hotel-restaurant-farm on 12 July 1982. They had four sons and one daughter. Two sons, Antoine and Joachim, would go on to create Fromagerie les Frères Bernard; another son Thomas would eventually take over the management of the hotel and restaurant from his parents.
Photo: Fromagerie les Frères Bernard
La Ferme du Vert was originally built in the traditional French farm design in 1809. The main door entrance to the central ground floor building contains the hotel reception and the breakfast dining room.
The left wing contains a residents’ lounge with a small bar and the evening dining room, with a huge blazing fire in winter.
The right wing houses the original cheese dairy, which is now dedicated to fromage cru (unpasteurised) production only.
Photo: author
In front of La Ferme du Vert’s main entrance door and encircled by the different wings of the farm building is a gravel courtyard, with a weeping willow tree and a duck pond, where you can enjoy an apéro before your meal.
Photos: author
Fifteen rustic, sympathetically decorated bedrooms, with thoughtful and generous modern touches, exist upstairs, spreading out around the different wings of the farm, enclosing the inner courtyard.
Photo: author
The restaurant achieved Michelin Bib Gourmand status and has an à la Carte menu featuring a range of very local meats, seafood and vegetables. In addition, there is a well - priced three course set menu, currently €38 per person, which we ate on a Saturday evening earlier in May this year.
Photo: author
L'Oeuf Bio Mollet, crémeux de Céleris rave, émulsion au chorizo. This was a starter - but my husband said he could have eaten a bucket of this on its own with a baguette and would have been quite content.
Photo: author
I chose Le Fromage de Wierre for my starter: Mousse de Fromage frais en Millefeuille, Granny Smith et échalotes vinaigrette. It was light and tangy, with a pleasing crunch from the pastry, yet left room for my cod, prawn and leek main course, which I regrettably ate, before realising that a photo would have been a good idea for this article. Likewise, the same problem with my husband’s tender, melting pork main course, which was cooked with the popular, local bière La 2 Caps - brewed by Christophe Noyon, a cousin of les Frères Bernard, in Tardinghem, the next village along the coast from Wissant, if heading south in the direction of Boulogne sur Mer.
Photo: author
In any case, both main courses were delicious and generous, served with some real crusty baguette de tradition and butter. We shared a plate of three cheeses created by les Frères Bernard, before ending with dessert.
Photo: author
I enjoyed one of my favourite French desserts: tarte au citron, with meringue and a sharp orange sorbet. It was very good, though the meringue was a little soft for my taste. It didn’t stop me from eating it.
Photo: author
Mr C demolished Le Calais: Entremet au Café, condiments, glace à la Vanille. This was an interpretation of the classic local Calaisien patisserie - a dacquoise ground almond sponge with coffee buttercream, icing and traditionally with the word Calais piped in chocolate. It looked gorgeous - but sadly I didn’t get the opportunity to taste it.
By the time we remarried in 2009, Thomas had taken over the running of the hotel and restaurant from his parents Joseph and Annie. He did a most excellent job managing our celebratory wedding meal and overnight stay with family, friends and a gaggle of children.
However, with the passing of Joseph Bernard in early 2018 and the challenges for all family businesses, especially hotels and restaurants, during the repeated lockdowns of the COVID pandemic, Thomas sadly sold the hotel and restaurant in January 2022.
The hotel and restaurant are now managed and co-owned by Clémence Simonnet (from La Rochelle), along with Martine Hees, a retired pharmacist from Azé in the Loire, though born in Thionville.
Reassuringly, based on our evening visit to the restaurant in May this year, Clémence Simonnet is keeping the original atmosphere of La Ferme du Vert alive.
Photo: La Ferme du Vert
The dining room maintains the same beautiful portrait painting, chandelier and the huge fireplace. A prompt, available yet unintrusive all female service was appreciated. The restaurant was completely full, with many French speaking clientele - always a good sign. Though, I did notice a Belgian, a Dutch and a German registration in the car park across the country lane. We enjoyed a very pleasant evening, with lots of memories flooding back.
It still remains a calm and peaceful oasis in the middle of a Boulonnais countryside of gently rolling hills, wheat fields, wild flowers and woods, with the sound of birdsong in the morning and the occasional hooting of an owl at night.
Photo: author
Introducing Contributor, Caroline McCormick-Clarke
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My mouth is watering here Caroline. I love French cooking and I am impressed by the menu and price. This looks like my kind of place. 👍😄
I love this piece and the way you weave in your personal experiences with other parts of the area that mean a lot to you. And those are quite the menus!