One of the things I love about Hautes de France is the fact that flax is still a major crop. It has been grown here for over a thousand years and although very mechanised these days it is still in principle the same process. In the spring we see the beautiful fields of blue flowers looking like a haze across the horizon, I don’t have to walk very far to see vast swathes across the plateau. Stunning! When we get to July the flax is pulled – it must be by machine, but this is the one process I have yet to see in action. Don’t even know what the…