Discover the most beautiful places during a walk through the park!
This estate stretches over an area of 25 hectares (62 acres) and has belonged to the same family since 1783. The layout, in landscape style, dates back to 1873, to the Romantic era. The basic idea is to bring, in a relatively small area, all of the elements together that one would want in an ideal landscape: romantic views; gently rolling meadows; the illusion of a clearing in a forest; winding paths; erratic water features; bridges; fairy tale buildings etc.
The rule is: “Everything is manmade, but it must appear to be natural.”
Access to the Beervelde Park is via the Toverstraat. At the end of the street is the parking lot of the Coach house.
You can find us in the office, on the courtyard of the Coach house.
Download the walk in PDF
We start the walk on the courtyard of the Coach house.
- In front of the white villa, built on the foundations of the old castle, we have a beautiful overview of the Park with its English landscape style. In the distance we can see the Pavilion.
- Here you can go straight ahead but it is much more fun (especially in dry weather) to take the small path on the right. The rhododendrons on the left of the track were displayed at the Ghent Flower Show in 1985.
- Remarkable scene right of the path. This tree has keeled over and has given birth to a great number of offspring. A magical place.
- On your left, under a thick layer of earth, you will find an icehouse. Years ago, before refrigerators existed, people cut ice from the pond and stored it here. Today it is an ideal place for some twenty bats to hibernate. Please do not disturb them. From this point you can either go straight or follow the path to (5).
- Great example of a 'woodland garden' with large, deciduous azaleas among very beautiful and large oak and beech trees. At the end of May this scene is at its best. The visitor should note that some of the oak are dead. We decided not to remove them but to let nature take its course. Pieces of wood might fall down. By continuing straight ahead into 2 or 4, this little risky section can be avoided.
- Here you have the choice: either go straight, or turn left for a shorter walk with a nice view of the pond from a bridge (12). The path between (6) and (7) runs through a collection of Hamamelis (witch hazel). These large shrubs are at their most beautiful when they bloom in February.
- You are now at ‘the Keyzerlo’. Here the walker can choose between the old path on the left and the new path on the right. A ‘loo’ or 'Lo' is a historical term for a clearing in a forest (cfr. Lo-Christi, but also Beverlo, Tongerlo, Waterloo ...). 'Keyzer' in honour of César De Keyzer and his wife Rosine Matthijs, horticulturalists from Lochristi. Next to the commercial range, they have put a lot of effort into recovering and increasing the oldest varieties of deciduous azaleas, a group known as the perennial 'Hardy Ghent' (short for winter hardy Ghent azaleas). All young plants you find here come from their nursery.
- After a short walk in a shaded part of the forest where broad buckler ferns grow under the trees, we arrive at a clearing surrounded by rhododendrons and large wild azaleas (Rhododendron luteum, formerly Azalea pontica). Particularly nice in May.
- From here you have a beautiful view of the Coach house, where the vehicles (horse-drawn carriages) of the family were kept. Sometimes people remark that there is no castle in Beervelde *, to which the Count replies that the estate may have no castle but it has the most beautiful garages in the world! (* The castle was demolished in 1948. The current house was built on its foundations.)
- The pavilion. Many people wonder what this building is for. The answer is: simply an eye catcher. Its only purpose is to be beautifully set within the landscape. From the terrace you have a wonderful view of the house. This house was built in 1948 on the site where the castle stood between 1873 and 1948.
- Here one has the choice of returning to the real world or prolonging the walk in paradise with a stroll through the meadows, heading towards (12), (6) and a bit further (2), the starting point of your hike.
- From the bridge in (12) one has a nice view of the pond. The water does not come from a river; it is groundwater, as a result, the level of the pond fluctuates a lot (more than 150 cm) between winter and summer. After the dry summer of 2018 there was hardly any water and no more fish in the pond. Shortly afterwards a large part of the pond was dredged and now it is once again populated with fish.