About this time in 2018 I was biking my way from Bruges, in Belgium, to Amsterdam by day and enjoying the comforts of a small barge by night. My principal objectives for my 28 days in Belgium and the Netherlands was to emerge myself in art, gardens, history and anything else that caught my attention. What I would like to share with you here are some of the gardens I visited and saw and hope that you will enjoy some of the beauty and excitement I experienced.
These were taken in the large town of Merelbeke, in Holland, at the front gate of a castle and provide a glimpse of how the Dutch towns prioritise access as 1. people, 2. bikes, 3. motor vehicles.
These photos are in the forecourt of the Kasteel Van Laarne in the town of Merelbeke. The garden is simple but formal perhaps for outdoor occasions or more likely easier maintenance.
In each corner of the walled garden is a delightful building, the purpose for which I have no idea.
My first stop in this part of Europe was in Antwerp where I visited 3 museums that were in fact 16th century homes, all have gardens. Obviously these gardens are modern interpretations of the original.
This garden is within the Plantin-Moretus Museum, formally the home and printing workshop of the Moretus family. The printing business originally employed about 100 people and is in part famous because the family owners kept all their type sets and copies of many books providing a unique insight into 16th century printing.
Another garden is that in the Rubenshuis Museum, the former home of the 16th century painter, Peter Paul Ruben.
Although this garden, the first I visited, was somewhat disappointing the house was not. Like a lot of the places I went to, this museum was authentic and substantially the same building it would have been 400 years ago. Rockox was a wealthy influential merchant in the Spanish Court and a patron of Ruben. This was a time before Belgium and Holland had come into being and these territories were part of the Spanish Empire.
Wonderful experience. A trip like this in Australia would be so very different!