Bergues is much like many other towns in Le Nord, except perhaps it is rather more picturesque than average. Which is probably why it was chosen as the location for the film "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", which is, by one measure at least, the most successful French film ever made. It has sold more tickets at the French box office than any other film in history, bar one, James Cameron's soggy schmalz-fest "Titanic". Proving the French cinema-going public has as little taste as the rest of us.

Les Ch'tis (also Les Ch'timis) is the somewhat derogatory term used by the rest of the French population to refer to the people of north-east France (the modern region of Hauts-de-France, encompassing Le Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Picardy) and western parts of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. It derives from Ch'ti, the local dialect.

If you haven't already done so, do yourself a favour and watch Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (often translated as Welcome to the Sticks). It really is is one of the most joyous comedies ever made.