This Small Village of Upside-Down Boat Houses Could be Your Next Holiday Destination

Hobbit holes, ice hotels, tree houses, and the list of interesting habitat choices goes on. But have you ever heard of the village of inverted boat houses? Discover Equihen-Plage, a small village in northern France that is a unique holiday destination for travelers and adventurers.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons]

Equihen-Plage is a small seaside village on the northern coast of France, directly below the English channel. It used to be a fishing village with a dry harbor where fishermen can launch their boats into the sea by gliding them on the sand using logs. The fishing village then became a stranded port from the beginning of the 20th century and thus the fishing boats were left aground.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons]

Poor families living in the village recovered the boat hulls to build a makeshift shelter for themselves. The hulls serve as the roof and were coated with tar to make them waterproof. The old upturned boat houses were then founded on top of a hillside overlooking the sea. House features like doors and windows were cut out from the hulls' faces for entry and ventilation but the interior was still deemed dark and congested. An entire hull's length is a single room space where sleeping and cooking were shared.

In the outbreak of the Second World War, the group of inverted boat houses was destroyed by bombings but they were never forgotten. During the early 1990s, the seaside dwellers decided to bring back to life the heritage of their fishing village and erected some inverted boats to function as houses. They outfitted the boat houses with modern living facilities to attract tourists and offer temporary living arrangements.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons]

In french, the town is known as "Quilles en l'air" which literally translates to "keel in the air" and is often used to describe the scenery of the town. Currently, the upturned boat houses make Equihen-Plage a popular tourist destination in the northern region of France with many sports and cultural activities as well as town festivals and events. Watersports activities like yachting, kitesurfing, and kayaking are also tourist-popular in the area. The coastal resort of Equihen-Plage is hardly urbanized with many cliffs, dunes, and coves which are ideal for hiking and other activities. Because of the town's cleanliness and outstanding environmental condition, Equihen-Plage received the European Blue Flag eco-label for a number of years.

Travelers and holiday goers looking for a peaceful and quiet getaway can rent an inverted boat house with a breathtaking view of the coast. Tourists can book an upturned boat house for one night for around 300 Euros.

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