With its 7200 hectares, the Bay of Somme is the largest estuary of the North of France. It is an unspoiled place composed of vast areas alternating between dunes, marshes and salt meadows. Situated on the route of the migrating birds, the Nature reserve of the Bay of Somme, and especially the Marquenterre park, is a peaceful haven for numerous wild birds stopping here to rest. The Bay of Somme also has the unusual The island of Noirmoutier is made of dunes and salt-marshes, crisscrossed with little canals that make it a haven for bird life. The beaches are long and sandy, lined with tamarisks, blue thistles, dune pinks and rabbit-tail grass. The houses are typically whitewashed, with red terracotta roofs and hollyhocks. The principal town is Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile, home to a castle and the remains of the monastery from which the island takes its name, but much of the rest of the island is made up of small communities, living from tourism as well as fishing, farming and the cultivation of salt. of being home to a seal colony.