Chemins de Traverse

All manner of hiking needs are covered in the Parc National de Forêts. If you need to keep the kids sweet, take the gentle loop around Auberive to the 12th-century abbey (25 minutes’ stroll). If more strenuous exercise is required, head to the limestone formations at Tufière d’Amorey (an hour and 15 minutes from Auberive), or stride out across the marshes of the Marais de Chalmessin (three hours). Get well away from the Haute-Marne tourist trail on a trip to pretty Langres (25 minutes’ drive), where you can peer over at the Vosges Mountains (and occasionally glimpse Mont Blanc) from the medieval ramparts. After that, have a wander around the cobbled streets of the old town, admire the giant tapestries in Cathédrale Saint-Mammès, and see how aristocrats lived in times gone by at the 16th-century Maison Renaissance. Stop off to see the lichen-covered dolmens near Bugnières on your way to historic Chaumont (45 minutes), where there’s jewel-coloured stained-glass in the Basilica of St John the Baptist and cute nativity figures in the Museum of the Nativity. While you’re in town, be sure to have a squint at the mighty 19th-century viaduct that soars over the Suize River.