"June, the flax month"…
Every year, the magic strikes again… By mid-June, the Caux countryside is ablaze with electric blue, before quickly giving way to a surprising geometrical scene made by the large stalks of flax that were pulled up and left to ret in the open air …
Upper-Normandy is the largest flax producer in France and Seine-Maritime alone is planted with 19,000 hectares of flax of the 60,000 hectares in France. With 1,500 flax growers, mostly located in the Pays de Caux, the department is a leading player in this area!
Thanks to a unique terroir, know-how and climate, Seine-Maritime's flax provides top quality fibre, which is in high demand. From food to clothes, including furniture and home accessories, construction and even the automotive industry for the lining of doors and seats, its use and its potential are unlimited!
Flax plants are pulled up one month after they flower (they are not cut so as to maximise the length of the stem from which the fibre will be extracted); then comes the retting process which allows to separate the fibre from the woody part; flax by-products are used for animals, to make oil... As for the textiles fibres, they are scutched and threshed before being spun and woven in order to be transformed into this solid and pleasant to the touch cloth that we know....
It should be said that flax has been grown since the 13th century in the Pays de Caux. After declining during the 19th century due to the development of cotton, flax production has been revived thanks to the Dutch growers who had acquired solid technical knowledge in their home country and who settled down in the region. Most of the threshed flax is exported, especially to China.
Flax cooperatives can be visited in the Pays de Caux, but also pretty shops and sheds.
A final word of advice: plan to stay in Seine-Maritime in June to admire the bright blue fields located in the beautiful setting of the Alabaster Coast... It's full of strong emotions!