Eric Leraillez writes in My secret gardens / Annappes:

I was born in the North of France. It is the region which has an industrial past thanks to the extraction of the coal. Brick houses were narrow with a garden where the worker, after a hard day’s work could make a little culture instead of hanging out in bars. I drew many gardens as those there. I like this mess of old rubbish, sheds, vegetation. They are small quiet paradises, completely in shelters of the noises of the street.

A few kilometers south of Lille, one can see these brick houses built for coal miners at the beginning of 20th century: