February - Mont des Cats
Mont des Cats is a small hill (alt. 164m) near the town of Godewaersvelde, in French Flanders. Its name in Dutch is Katsberg. It is the seat of an abbey bearing the same name, famous for the cheese produced by the monks since 1890. Mont des Cats cheese has been produced by the monks since 1890 with the milk of local farms, in a small independent dairy.
Cassel
Cassel in the Hauts-de-France has been voted “France’s Favourite Village” (LeVillage Préféré des Français) in the seventh annual edition of the TV contest, broadcast by channel France 2.
Cassel - which is only around a dozen kilometres from the Belgian border - won out from the 14 candidates in the contest, becoming the first commune from Hauts-de-France to triumph in the competition
The contest seeks to celebrate French villages, especially rewarding those that are exceptionally beautiful, well-kept, of historical significance, and/or that demonstrate excellent community spirit.
Cassel itself has 2,300 inhabitants, and includes a departmental museum of art, a Flanders museum, an old working windmill, and a historic Jesuits college.