It's a long way to the castle

After having tricked us with a handful of warm and sunny days, April decided to live up to her  reputation for capriciousness by making a U-turn to Winter temperatures in the month's third week. 

As this was the time of our little getaway, we could have wept at the weather forecast, which spoke of heavy rain, hailstorms, frosty nights and highs of well below 10°C. So much for packing a selection of Spring frocks and jackets, I actually had to dig out one of my warmest Winter coats again!

Monday and Tuesday were stormy, four-seasons-in-one-day office days, so waking up to a bright blue sky and sunshine on Wednesday, the first day of our break, was a nice surprise. We even started hoping against hope that they'd got it wrong and it was going to be a sunny albeit bitterly cold, day.

As our holiday destination was only one hour away, we allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast, and giving Bess an extra cuddle before stowing our bags into our car and driving off at around 11.30 am. 

By then, however, dark clouds had been gathering on the horizon and, sure enough, we'd hardly left our village behind before the first drops of rain appeared on our windscreen. 

Torrential rain accompanied us on our one-hour journey on the motorway, our windscreen wipers going at full speed, until finally a gap appeared in the layer of grey as we were nearing our destination. 

For the 8th time, we would be staying at Het Soetewater, a delightful B&B in Beernem, a rural village just a stone's throw from the hustle and bustle of Bruges. Here, as always, we were welcomed with restorative cups of coffee and slices of yummy cake!

Then it was off to our luxury room complete with kingsize bed and whirlpool bath in the annex, making ourselves at home and saying hello to our neighbours at the front (above, bottom left) and back (above, top right). 

After eating the packed lunch we'd brought from home, we were ready for our first adventure: a visit to the magnificent Loppem Castle, which involved a drive of a mere 15 minutes.

45 minutes later, we trundled up the cobbled drive and parked our car in the castle's car park. And no, we didn't manage to get lost! In fact, our Satnav expertly guided us along secondary roads and through the village of Loppem until we found ourselves at a dead end as extensive roadworks where blocking the final 2 kilometer stretch of road we needed to take.

Diversions signs were non-existent and our Satnav made us drive around in circles until we were dizzy. In desperation, we decided to return part of the way to Beernem and then take the motorway, as I remembered from our last visit that the E40 virtually skirts the domain. To cut a long story short, we finally made it, although we'd lost 30 minutes of precious time along the way.

While we were driving around, the sun had come out in full force and, although she once or twice tried to hide behind some angry-looking clouds, she was still with us when we walked through the gatehouse (above, bottom right). Inside, two medallion sculptures were looking down on us, mere mortals, as we made our way outside into the quadrangle of stables and other outbuildings. 

Just 10 kilometers from Bruges, stately Loppem Castle is surrounded by a romantic English style garden and park, with centuries-old trees, ponds, grottos and even a notoriously tricky maze. 

In 1856, the English architect Edward Welby Pugin (1834-1875) was commissioned by the future inhabitants, Baron Charles van Caloen and his wife, Countess Savina de Gourcy Serainchamps, to draw up plans for the castle. Later on, supervision of the building work was entrusted to the Belgian architect Jean-Baptiste Bethune (1821-1894), who gave a slightly more Flemish character to the building. 

Construction of the castle was completed by 1863 and the result is an excellent example of the Flemish neo-Gothic style. 

The interiors at Loppem castle are decorated and furnished in perfect harmony with the neo-Gothic architecture. The furniture designed by Pugin as well as Bethune’s stained-glass windows, chandeliers, staircases and fireplaces were all executed with immense skill by local craftsmen.

The impressive entrance hall or vestibule (above), with its grand staircase and its vaulted ceiling, is where van Caloen and his guests played billiards.

Reaching up 17 metres from the floor, in polychromed wood with six bosses decorated with family coats of arms, the ceiling is a faithful copy of the 14th century vault of the gothic hall in Bruges' city hall.

The stunning encaustic floor tiles were produced by Minton Hollis from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

The grand staircase's banister is composed of a hundred exquisitely crafted panels featuring native plants, animals and hunting scenes.

The blue drawing room (below, bottom left) is decorated with murals by the German artist August Martin, who created these scenes from medieval Flanders in 1869-70.

Leading off from the gallery on the first floor are the formal bedrooms, which include the set of rooms  used by King Albert I and his family when they resided at the castle at the end of the First World War, between 24 October and 21 November 1918. 

For one month, Loppem Castle was the headquarters of a newly liberated Belgium. It was here that the famous "Loppem Government" was formed, the first government to include socialists, and which, among other things, introduced universal male suffrage, the right to trade unions and strikes, and the promise of a Dutch-language university in the city of Ghent.

The busts on the bottom left and right are those of King Albert I and his wife, Queen Elisabeth.

Also on the first floor is the family chapel. The two-storey, single-nave chapel has pink walls and a blue-painted wooden vault. From a stand on the upper floor, staff could attend the service. Jean-Baptiste Bethune's stained-glass windows depict the family's patron saints.

The castle is home to an impressive art collection, largely assembled by Baron Jean van Caloen (1884– 1972), Charles’ grandson. 

Jean was a passionate collector with wide-ranging interests, including medieval sculpture, Flemish painting, stoneware from Raeren (a German town, now in present-day Belgium) and Westerwald, Mechelen alabasters, Portuguese ivories, illuminated manuscripts, prints and drawings. 

These collections are mostly displayed in museum style in a set of  remodelled rooms on the first floor.

Besides the numerous paintings, there is an exceptional collection of old sculptures as well as art from Asia and Africa. 

The kneeling angel (above, top right) is Italian and dates from 1425-1450. I wonder why she was promptly rechristened waffle angel by us ...

Our heads were reeling after taking in room after room of arts, crafts and artifacts. In fact, I was quite goggle-eyed, which was exacerbated by catching sight of my reflection in one of the mirrors in the passageway downstairs!

Rain-pregnant clouds were once again in evidence by the time we made it outside, which meant that our plans of a walk around the castle park were off the cards. Now, if we hadn't been waylaid by those pesky roadworks ...

As it was, we barely had the time for a quick look around the garden until the heavens opened.

I still managed to take a photo of the castle in all its glory and show you the prominent, corbelled sandstone chapel crowned with an octagonal spire. 

Having learned our lesson, our return journey was a doddle, although it had started raining in earnest by now.

Back in our room, we rested our feet. Then, when our stomachs started rumbling, we made our way to the main part of the B&B to sample Veronique's trademark tapas board, which we'd ordered for our first evening.

Day one ended with a soak in our whirlpool bath and an evening of relaxing and reading.

If the weathermen were to be believed, we would be in for a dry and sunny day with highs of - gasp! - 12°C on Thursday. Would they have got it right for once? Find out by joining me again for installment no. 2 in a couple of days!