Visit France's closest weekend getaway - Lille

Lille is set to become the closest weekend getaway for holidaymakers looking for a break in France with the new High Speed 1 rail line, which has been launched today.

Just one hour 20 minutes from London St Pancras, the stylish French city is as easy to get to as popular cities such as Bath, Oxford and Cambridge from the capital.

The city also offers great shopping if you are looking to buy wines and beers, craft or interior design items, clothes and accessories. There is also a recently opened Galleries Lafayette department store.

Lille also has a lot to offer if you are on the hunt for unique gifts.

Like many French cities it has an excellent range of specialist bakers selling pastries, but being so close to Belgium there are also plenty of chocolate shops.

Art lovers are also well catered for with a fine arts museum and several galleries.

However, this does not mean holidaymakers should restrict their stay to just the city.

A must-visit destination for architecture, crafts and art fans is the Piscine museum in Roubaix, a city known for its historical textile production.

As the name suggests, the museum is housed in a former art deco swimming pool, which has been transformed into a grand museum - featuring modern arts and crafts exhibitions, as well as a permanent collection with art, ceramics, textiles and sculpture.

Lille is also a useful base from which to visit many of northern France and Belgium's world war one battlefields. Close to Ypres is the site of Essex Farm cemetery in the Messines area as well as the trenches at Bozinghe, and a German cemetery at Langemark.

One of the largest sites in the area is the Commonwealth military cemetery at Tyne Cot.

Among the tour operators with battlefield tours and city break packages in Lille are European Rail, which has a two-night trip that includes a tour of Flanders battlefields for £226.

For more information on visiting the city see the Lille tourist board website.