The Marais Vernier

Set in the Boucles de la Seine Normande Regional Nature Park, in the Eure department, to the west of the Brotonne Forest and at the foot of the Tancarville Bridge, the Marais Vernier forms a natural amphitheatre, between the Seine and the nearby low-lying wooded hills, of some 4,500 ha.

This vast area is composed of two very different sections: the "peaty" marsh, which is very wet, and made up of prairies, pasturages and woods, devoted to livestock breeding and hunting, and the alluvial marsh, which is not so wet and where there is more crop-growing, alongside the livestock breeding.

Since the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the Marshland have had to learn to adapt to this damp natural environment. At the foot of the slopes, they used to cultivate long thin strips of land, bordered on either side by ditches, still known in the area as "courtils". Later on, in order to cope with the whims of the Seine when it flooded, a number of dykes were built around the Marsh in an attempt to drain them. The most famous of these, the "Dutch dyke", was erected subsequent to an edict pronounced by King Henri IV. In the 16th century, more embankments were undertaken.