A hotel and restaurant renovated in a designer style, the Best Western l'Atelier 117, Maubeuge, France, welcomes guests with a reading room, a lounge, and a bar, its air-conditioned rooms bringing flat-screen televisions with cable channels and free Wi-Fi, well placed near the business parks between Maubeuge and Valenciennes. A receptive team keeps the welcome warm, and the setting suits a working trip or a quiet break, with the rolling green countryside of the Avesnois close at hand. The location keeps the region's villages and the nearby border within easy reach. The Avesnois is a green country of hedged meadows, bocage, and Trappist abbeys near the Belgian border, known for its beer and for its Maroilles cheese, baked into the local flamiche tart, with a zoo, an archaeological site, and outdoor activities scattered across the region. Twenty minutes from Belgium, this is a quiet, little-visited corner of the north, with the Mormal forest and the fortified town of Maubeuge adding to the draw.