Fancy a ‘charbonnay’? How France’s coal belt reinvented itself as a tourist destination

With slag heaps now covered in vines, the newly reopened Cité des Électriciens fetes its industrial heritage in typically French style

A holiday at the Cité des Électriciens in northern France may not sound like a glamorous getaway, but there are some genuine surprises to be discovered in the unspoiled region by the Belgian border, a short drive from Calais or Boulogne. The Louvre has established a satellite museum in Lens, while the lesser-known city of Béthune boasts fabulous art deco architecture, artisan breweries and exciting young chefs reinterpreting local recipes. The sandy beaches and dunes of the wild Côte d’Opale are never far away, but what really takes my breath away is discovering a vineyard halfway up a former slag heap, all that is left of the region’s coalmines. Fittingly, the vigneron has dubbed his crisp white wine not chardonnay but charbonnay – a pun on the French for coal, charbon.

The Cité des Électriciens is actually all about miners rather than electricians. The village was purpose-built in the 1850s for local pit families, partly in response to the scandal caused by Émile Zola’s exposure of working conditions in his novel Germinal, partly to ensure the miners’ loyalty by creating a benevolent environment. It was one of several model townships across the French and Belgium coal belt, built by mining barons. Its name dates from the turn of the century, when the local post office asked for streets to be named, for easier delivery of mail – hence Rue Edison and Rue Marconi, among others.