For our sojourn in the battlefields of the Western Front, we stayed at a delightful gite in the village of Allonville, just outside Amiens in the rolling agricultural area of the Somme. In honour of our engagingly helpful host, Jaques Fauquembergue, our lodgings became known instantly as “Chateau Jacko”.
On Jaques’ recommendation, we dined at La Table d’Agathe in the next town, Corbie. To aid our digestion, we wandered around town after and I was delighted to find the church – the Chapelle, Corbie (non-Australians need not worry about this one)
A particularly complete breakfast was provided with the choice of very strong coffee or even stronger coffee. This was accompanied by a detailed and heavily accented précis of the area’s local history.
After a full day of touring we invited Jaques to join us in our supper of hams, terrines, cheeses and wines in the idyllic enclosed garden. In the ensuing wide ranging conversations, we discovered that Jaques didn’t like Sarkozy nor nuclear power and had a quite good sense of humour. The next evening he reciprocated in grand style with a full table including a cake baked for our benefit and some very well chosen wines. We don’t believe that Jaques has a good idea of running lodgings for a profit.
Although Allonville was behind the lines during the war, it had a casualty clearing station in a big barn which suffered an artillery attack when an Australian entertainment group was visiting. Most of this group were killed and are buried in the local cemetery. We found the site of this barn with the help of the local squire, who kindly suggested that the Australians were very well remembered in the area.
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