Museums

France is to be applauded for the originality, the ingenuity, the eclecticism and all-round excellence of its museums. Whether it be devoted to cheese, cake-decorations or cars, the French are very good at preserving their local heritage and displaying it in an exciting way, so you can forget any preconceptions you may have of dreary rows of dusty display cases, The Domaine de Vendresse is a good case in point. It's the only museum I've been too where I have been nearly deafened and shaken to pieces. Eclectic Vendresse certainly is, combing the history of the birth of cast iron on this site in the most theatrical way and 'the secret universe of our rivers' in ten aquariums in which you can see about thirty species of freshwater fish. It makes a good venue for a family visit, with the added attractions of a good brasserie serving light meals, picnic area and 'hands-on' water features in the grounds. Another imaginative museum which given the turbulent history of the Ardennes was entirely appropriately sited.

The Musee Guerre et Paix.

The War and Peace Museum is housed in a large (4,500m ) and entirely new, contemporary building in the little town of Novion-Porcien. British visitors will need no introduction to the First and Second World Wars but possibly not so familiar is the humiliating defeat the French suffered at the hands of Bismarck's Prussian army in 1870/1 in which they were forced to cede all of Alsace, Belfort and parts of Lorraine to Germany-a situation that existed until the Kaiser's defeat in 1918. The museum skilfully brings to life episodes from all three conflicts that took place in Ardennes with the aid of sound and lighting effects and full-sized models with tanks, armoured cars and assorted weaponry. On the upper mezzanine level is one of the biggest collections of militaria that I have seen. Altogether, the uniforms, weapons and military equipment of all sorts dating from the nineteenth century to the present day form a very comprehensive and fascinating collection. The museum doesn't celebrate or glorify war, it merely seeks to remind us of a past that we should all remember but must hope is never repeated.