The town -  The town of Marchiennes Marchiennes, county town of 4700 inhabitants, is located on the inferior part of the Scarpe River between the towns of Douai and Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Its altitude is of 18 meters (59 feet). It enlarges upon 2144 hectares among which 800 hectares constitutes Marchiennes state forest. Marchiennes, nearby the motorways A21 and A23, belongs to the Nord region and is situated at half an hour from Lille, 20 minutes from Douai and Valenciennes and 2 hours from Paris and Bruxels. Recently, the town has been stretching thanks to the arrival of new inhabitants, mainly coming from the area of Lille and who are happy to find an authentic and pleasant town offering a privileged place to live in. The many cultural and sportive associations of Marchiennes offer numerous activities and festivities all along the year. Marchiennes’ state forest, the Evoïches leisure park, the natural reserve named “Le Pré des Nonettes”, the watercourses, the hiking trails are so many different ways to have a nice day out. Since 1998, Marchiennes is twined with Speldhurst, a small English town situated in the North ok Kent with which Marchiennes has privileged links. The two towns, only at 3 hours from one another, regularly organize cultural exchanges and sport events. As far as the economic situation is concerned, Marchiennes has had difficult years and known a regular decline. Nevertheless, companies are settling back in Marchiennes because of its accessibility. Marchiennes, city of the Parc. Marchiennes is one of the 55 towns of the Natural Regional Park Scarpe Escaut which is 43000 hectares large and has 162000 inhabitants. These towns together embarked on an intermunicipal approach to assert their identity and to develop their cultural and natural heritage. There are three different kind of landscapes within the natural Regional Park Scarpe Escaut. In the North, « the inhabited countryside », and its wide plains of the Pévèle which has a living agriculture and a rich cultural heritage (square-yarded farm, chapels, dovecotes). In the South, the « Mining Arc », ’ is the home of the regional mining exploitation it has still an industrial heritage (head frames, pit-heads...) since it is close to the towns of Valenciennes and Douai. In the middle of the Park, the « Heart of Nature », is plenty of natural beauty spots of a great ecological value ; it covers 4 state forests among which Marchiennes’ and the alluvial plains of the Scarpe and of the Escaut. Interactif map of Marchiennes on planville.com web site Hymne de Marchiennes La Marchiennoise (paroles et musique) Galerie de photos aériennes de Marchiennes