Beffroi de Bergues. ©Mark Playle
HUGE fans of the Dany Boon comedy Welcome To The Sticks (Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis) off we go to pay homage to Bergues where it was filmed.
Did we hear people speaking Ch'ti?
We did not. It's not spoken in Bergues.
What a swizz.
Nearest place where it is spoken is over an hour away.
Apparently, during World War I, French soldiers from the south, serving in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais were amused to hear the locals pronouncing C'est toi as Ch'est ti.
Over time est was replaced with an apostrophe, hence Ch'ti.
Did we see the filming locations?
We did.
25 Pl. du Marché aux Fromages is where Antoine lives with his mother - played by the divine Line Renaud - and where Philippe spends an uneasy night suspecting Antoine might be gay.
The interior, however, was filmed in a house a few doors down where six Maroilles Cheeses were cold stored for the scene where Antoine shows Philippe how to eat it for breakfast.
They came in handy because they laughed so much it had to be shot quite a few times.
Pont de l'Abbatoir is where Antoine and Philippe park their yellow post office bicycles to urinate in the canal.
They squeezed their arm pits where there were pouches of liquid connected to a hose but they didn't work.
After a few bottles of Ch'ti beer, they returned later for the real thing.
43 rue de la Gare is where the lovely Annabelle lived. Philippe collected her from here to take her to the Square to see Antoine's declaration of love hanging from the Belfry.
View from the Beffroi de Bergues. ©Mark Playle
The actual shop which still sells actual lingerie is in place Gambetta where Antoine's mother accuses Philippe of gawking at ladies undergarments in the window.
Did we eat the mysterious fricadelle? We did.
It's a sausage which looks and tastes like a shish kebab.
'Eul fricadelle, on a pas l'droit d'dire ch'qu'il y a d'dans... Dans ch'Nord, tout l'monde sait ch'qu'il y a d'dans, mais personne le dit !'
The fricadelle, you're not allowed to say what's in it... In the North, everyone knows but nobody reveals it!
The Chip Van Chez Momo where the postal workers ate lunch hid Friterie des Flandres on place de la République. Before the film, la Friterie sold about forty fricadelles a week. When the film was released it averaged four hundred.
Did we eat Maroilles cheese which ‘smells like a Welsh Rugby team's changing room’?
We did. On a fine Croque Monsieur. It’s actually quite nice.
Since the film, the demand for Maroilles has risen by 30% nationally.
Did we climb 206 stairs to the famous Belfry?
We did.
View of Saint-Martin Church from the Belfry. ©Mark Playle
As well as the amazing carillon there is a 360° view of the Flemish countryside. We were told that on a clear day you can see Calais.
The carillon is a massive musical instrument with fifty bronze bells which ring the quarter-hour.
Section of the Belfry. ©Mark Playle
The carillonneur strikes wooden levers and pedals with his fists and feet every Monday morning to anounce the very fine weekly market is open for business.
Wooden levers and pedals. ©Mark Playle
Before 2008, the belfry welcomed two thousand visitors a year. After the film, that skyrocketed to thirty-five thousand. Today there are about fifteen thousand every year.
In the first two years after the film's release, Bergues, a town of just 3,600 coped with up to thousand visitors during peak summer weekends.
Did we have a breakfast croissant in the Cafe de la Poste featured in the film?
We did not. They had sold out. At 10am!
Did we see the famous Post Office?
Post office film location. ©Mark Playle
Yes. And no.
Dany Boon wanted to shoot inside the real Post Office on Place de la République but La Poste, naturally, could not close for three weeks of filming. He was offered an ugly, empty, building on Place du Marché aux Fromages owned at the time by Gaz De France.
The production team extended it with false walls perfectly imitating the real bricks, painted the doors yellow, put up fake La Poste signs, built the sorting office counters inside and a yellow postbox outside.
So realistic was it that some locals posted letters there.
This is where Antoine destroys his rival's motorbike.
Bergues was swarmed with visitors wanting to see the post office so GDF gave the building to the town. There was a ceremonial handover but Dany Boon, stuck in Bordeaux airport due to a strike, missed the ceremony.
A small commemorative plaque on the facade commemorates how a mundane office ended up as part of French cinematic history.
Dany Boon's mother is from Armentières, twenty-five miles from Bergues. He relied on her northern dialect and dedicated the film to her.
Was our sixteen hour round trip car journey worth it? Definitely, especially when we, just like Philippe, on the way there, crossed an invisible line and it began to pour down defeating the windscreen wipers.
We let out a huge cheer.
Bergues is delightful, with narrow, winding streets. Much of the architecture dates back centuries.
Bergues preserves the film locations as an homage and a guide to show tourists but finding merchandise is a scavenger hunt which is why our only souvenirs consist of a tiny guide book which, mercifully, en anglais, a couple of fridge magnets and himself did buy the T-shirt!
Au revoir ma biloute!
Post by Pamela Shields, photography by Mark Playle.
