Top 15 Lakes around Incourt

Meldertbos is actually more than a forest; it's a nature reserve consisting of forest, including wet areas (with the Mene), open spaces with hay meadows, ponds, and here and there remnants of the former castle garden. Even in early spring, you immediately notice that this could be an ideal place to find orchids. And it is, as you can read on the Natuurpunt website. Among the inhabitants, we find the grass snake. The scarlet elf cup can also be found here. From some of the diverse boardwalks, be sure to also look at the faded glory of the castle, including remnants of the swimming pool and even the changing room. This entire area is actually what the people from the Inventory of Immovable Heritage call a "sleeping garden". But sleeping doesn't mean dead. And as you can read on an information board from Natuurpunt: "Park awakens after 60 years of sleep". Be sure to combine it with the immediate surroundings of the castle, preferably outside of school days. There are more than enough remarkable trees. For those interested in garden architecture, there is also history to be found here. About Meldertbos at Natuurpunt: https://www.natuurpunt.be/natuurgebieden/meldertbos About the forest and the domain (with garden history and list of remarkable trees): https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten/134188

The Warandevijver pond was built by order of the Duke of Arenberg some 300 years ago. At that time, Meerdaalwoud was the dukes' hunting grounds. A "warande" (warden) often refers to a (closed) hunting area and/or open space where game was kept. It's a lovely picnic bench where I used to picnic with my parents decades ago.

Beautiful pond for a rest break.

You better be quick because in the meantime, in the context of a land consolidation, almost all the nice roads are being paved 😢. You can still respond to the Omgevingsloket from January 22 to February 20, 2025.

The walk is actually the signposted Mene-Jordaan walk. It is better to park the car at the Sint-Ermelindis church. Then walk 200 m to end up in the corner of the forest to the castle. And then back to follow the Mene-Jordaan.

The Maagdendal or Mariadal monastery of the bogaards (also begaarden), the male counterpart of the beguines, was founded around 1450 on an evocative site: the wide ring moat and the two islands suggest an old castral motte (perhaps the place where Prince-Bishop Balderik of Liège wanted to build a castle around 1010 and had wide moats dug for that purpose, direct cause of the Battle of Hoegaarden in 1013, but this is far from proven according to A. Wauters). On a map of the taxes and fiefs of the abbey of 't Park in Hoegaarden and Outgaarden from 1663, the monastery is shown as a closed complex with a square plan. On the Ferraris map (1771-1778) it has a plan in the shape of an 'h' in mirror image, with a vegetable garden, an orchard and what was probably a large ornamental garden with a path cross and an oval widened intersection. That this ornamental garden formed a separate island is evident from the Primitive cadastral map drawn up by Sablon around 1820. In 1797, the Bogaarden monastery and its grounds, a total of three hectares, were sold as 'national property' to former members of the congregation. In 1820, the former monastery domain was purchased by the congregation 'Soeurs de l'Union au Sacré-Coeur' (now translated as 'Sisters of the Association with the Sacred Heart'), an order founded around 1800 by priest François-Joseph Delfosse that focused on education. That same year, 'Val Virginal', a boarding school for girls, opened its doors. The Primitive cadastral map closely matches the Ferraris map; the monastery complex has almost the same layout. The oldest cadastral register (1831), in the name of "ménagère" Petronelle Pierraerts and associates, describes the main building as "Maison bâtiment et cour brasserie" and mentions three garden plots, together with ponds and moats 4 hectares 27 ares in size. The congregation also owned 13 hectares of agricultural land in Hoegaarden and had a chapel built in Sint-Katarina-Houtem, on the highest point of the plateau between the Grote Gete and the Molenbeek-Menebeek - the 'Marollenkapel' or 'Klein Scherpenheuvel'. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Domain Mariadal, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/134185

still wild site with many birds

Lake Louvain-la-Neuve was created in 1984 as a fish pond and storm basin to prevent flooding in the lower part of the town and in the valley.