Buire-Au-Bois: Hiking and Heritage

Buire-Au-Bois is a destination for visitors who want to take hiking, architectural history and nature into account when choosing their stay. Specific points of reference include Notre-Dame Church, the Sentier des Moulins and a ZNIEFF with named habitats. The village lies in a valley that leads towards the Authie. These themes offer several distinct perspectives for planning a trip: routes, architecture and landscape.

Architectural history and heritage

The bell tower of Notre-Dame Church dates from 1752. The nave and choir are generally dated to 1771. The dates therefore refer to different parts of the building: the tower is dated earlier than the nave and choir. This distinction gives a more precise picture of the building’s history than associating the entire church with just one year. Buire-Au-Bois’s heritage also includes a 17th-century manor house. A mairie-école, or combined town hall and school building, is another part of it. Local cultural landmarks thus include both the church, with its different dates, and other historic buildings.

Hiking on named trails

The Sentier des Moulins is an easy, 10 km hiking trail. It passes former phosphate mines and the Château de Bachimont, also known as La Folie. Its length and difficulty provide two specific details about the route; the former mines and the château add historical points of interest along the way. This makes it possible to assess the route both by its hiking profile and by the sights it passes.

The Sentier du Bois Patou in Buire-Au-Bois is marked with yellow PR trail markers. Hiking trails also pass through the village’s heritage sites. These offer different points of reference when choosing a route: for the Sentier des Moulins, the focus is on its length, difficulty and the sites along the way; for Bois Patou, the yellow PR markers are a specific feature. When comparing different hiking trails, you can therefore distinguish between information about the route profile, trail markings and connections to local heritage.

Landscape and nature

Buire-Au-Bois is part of the ZNIEFF “Bois de la Justice, bois d'Auxi-le-Château et pâture à "mille trous"”. At the Pâture aux mille trous, this ZNIEFF encompasses a notable area of calcareous grassland, fringe communities and shrub vegetation. A nature description dated 11 June 2024 names the narrow-leaved helleborine (Cephalanthera longifolia) and the cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), among other species, in the ZNIEFF’s forests. These examples add specific plant species to the description of the habitats. Another notable landscape feature is the “marchande des 4 saisons”, identified as a remarkable tree.

Choosing the purpose of your trip

If you are looking for a hotel for a trip to Buire-Au-Bois, you can choose the kind of trip you want based on local themes: hiking, architectural history or nature. The named trails, the different dates associated with the church and the landscape features described here provide specific points of reference.

Discover more destinations: Hames-Boucres, Beugny, Mouriez, Troisvaux, Coulogne, Guînes, Cormont, Hesmond.

Go to the wider travel overview: Pas-De-Calais.