La Hottée du Diable

Coincy

On a sandy hill of the Tardenois are heaped enormous blocks of sandstone in fantastic shapes — mushrooms, tables and petrified beasts rising out of the heather moor. Geology sees in them the remains of the coastal dunes of a vanished sea, laid bare by millions of years of erosion. The local people saw something else entirely. The legend, collected in the 19th century by the abbé Poquet in his Légendes historiques du département de l'Aisne, tells that the abbot of Val-Chrétien, a neighbouring monastery in the valley of the Ourcq, despaired of completing his abbey for want of money. A splendid stranger presented himself: he would build everything at his own expense, on one condition — the building would be his the moment it was finished. The bargain was struck. But the abbot, realising whom he was dealing with, came by night to sprinkle the site and its workmen with holy water: the devil, unmasked before he had laid the last stone, fled howling and tipped out over the heath of Coincy the basket of sandstone he carried on his back. Thus was born the "Hottée du Diable" — the Devil's basket-load — whose blocks were also said to shelter nocturnal dances and sabbaths. Today a nature reserve managed by the Conservatoire d'espaces naturels, the heath is the most visited natural site in the Aisne: climbers, botanists and the curious cross paths among the stones that the Evil One, it is said, never came back to collect.

Getting there : Heathland south-west of Coincy, between Château-Thierry and Fère-en-Tardenois; access signposted from the D310, parking at the edge of the site, footpaths free to roam. Take care: the boulders are popular with climbers.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound