Westward ho!

The weather has definitely taken a turn for the worse since we came back from our trip to Belgium's west country last Sunday. Without so much as a by your leave we have suddenly been plunged into Autumn with the temperature having taken a dive to barely into double figures. Bar the odd exception, the days have been dark and wet which did nothing to alleviate our end-of-yet-another-holiday blues.

The contrast with Sunday the 1st of September couldn't have been greater! 

We were a tiny bit too early for the 3 pm check-in into our holiday cottage so we drove over to Poperinge's town centre to get our bearings and do some food shopping. 

However, when we were hit by a sweltering 32°C upon getting out of our airconditioned car, we decided to just pick up some pre-packed salads and a baguette for our evening meal and call our host, Marino, to see if the cottage was ready. It was, so, after purchasing a loaf of bread for our host, which he'd kindly asked us to do - we have been on friendly terms with him for years! - we continued our journey to the cottage on the outskirts of the town. 

It was our 13th stay here and the 9th since I've started my blog so I'm sure the cottage - an all-in first floor studio situated above Marino's carport in a charming thatched wooden building - doesn't need further introduction. 

It's got everything you can think of but unfortunately there's only overhead lighting by way of spotlights placed at the very top of the roof beams, which makes reading after dark a bit of a struggle. In order not to strain my eyes even further, we brought our own reading lamp, bought from IKEA back in August. Therefore, Jos's first job upon arrival was assembling the thing!

One of the reasons we keep on returning to our little cottage opposite one of the town's hop fields is the view from the balcony, which never fails to delight us. We can actually see all the way to France - the undulating countryside on the horizon (above, bottom right) is part of the Franco-Flemish hills - and the view across the domain's lake is truly unsurpassable. The latter is teeming with wildlife: we love watching the antics of the coots and other waterfowl, the herons waiting patiently for their next meal to come along and the myriads of dragonflies dancing in front of our eyes.

But wait, what do we have here? This tiny kitten was meowing at us pitifully. You can see just what a little scrap of a thing it is sitting beneath the cottage balcony in the below collage on the top left. Can you spot it?

It kept us company while we were sitting outside but it scuttled away under the hedge if we tried to get closer. As it was still hanging around the next morning - and was actually waiting for us on the stairs leading up to the cottage - we called Marino to ask if it was his. Much to our dismay, it wasn't. He told us it always seemed to be sitting out there and admonished us not to feed it. I think you can guess how that turned out ...

Anyway, back to Sunday. Once the heat of the day had somewhat come down, I posed for outfit photos in front of our own very posh wrought iron entrance gates ...

... and crossed the road to have a closer look at the hop poles dripping with hop cones, which we knew from experience would be harvested before the week was over. From as long ago as the 8th century, the month of September has been dedicated to hop picking here.

Poperinge is Belgium's hop growing capital and the characteristic hop fields are a typical feature of Poperinge's summer landscape. There are no less than 160 hectares of them, all cared for by 18 hop farmers. A handful of hop farms can be visited, which we did back in 2021 (see here and here). 

I played around with one of the photos I've taken, so there's nothing wrong with your eyes, you are actually seeing things double here!

We woke up to a sunny yet slightly cooler day on Monday, its highs of 25°C perfect for the day's planned activity. We'd slept like the proverbial logs and had taken our time getting ready and having breakfast. Having ditched our original plan to explore a little town on the other side of the border, we decided to stay local instead and go for a walk in the woods.

As due to our late-ish start this would involve a picnic, we needed to drive into Poperinge for provisions first. Mission accomplished, we walked around the corner to the tourist information office in the basement of Poperinge's neo-Gothic town hall to pick up some brochures. As you can see, it was quite windy ...

In the courtyard at the back of the town hall, the death cells and execution pole, where deserters faced the firing squad, can be visited. Quite a chilling and sobering experience, especially as in one of the cells you can see a cinematic impression of a soldier waiting to be shot at dawn. You can also see some of the graffiti left by the prisoners.

As with so many of the sites here in Flanders Fields, one cannot help but be moved, so we were quite annoyed by a group of sniggering youngsters who were visiting at the same time as us. 

It's definitely not the first time I find myself standing dreamily on the town hall steps. History is so tangible here, the now so peaceful region still bearing witness to the one million soldiers from more than 50 different countries which were wounded, missing or killed in action here. 

Back at the cottage, we made some sandwiches, grabbed a drink, and set off for the day's ultimate destination, which was only five minutes or so up the road.

Having exhausted most of the local nature walks - some of which we've done more than once - I was thrilled to find that part of the woods belonging to castle ‘t Couthof, had recently been opened to the public after it had been acquired by the Flemish nature conservation agency, Agentschap Natuur en Bos.

A walking trail has been laid out through the historic estate. Red arrows are pointing the way while information boards are telling you about the rich history of the castle and its woods. These are the oldest in the area and used to belong to Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz, the uncle of Queen Mathilde of Belgium, our current king's wife.

We were lamenting the absence of any benches to have our picnic on, when Jos spotted this conveniently located fallen tree, its trunk smoothed by the passage of time. It was the perfect spot, not just to sample our sandwiches, but to sit and listen to the sound of silence only punctuated by bird calls. 

Hunger pangs sated, we continued our walk on those woodland paths until we came to a clearing. Here, the information board told us, were the remains of a motte and bailey (above, bottom right) and the ruins of a hunting lodge (above, top right). There was talk, too, of Poperinge's oldest oak tree, planted around 1795. However, we couldn't decide which of the ancient trees surrounding us it might have been, as there were quite a few mighty oaks among them, our feet crunching on the acorns which had been scattered around liberally.

Before rejoining the woods for the final stretch of our walk, a folly awaited us. 

Standing menacingly in the middle of a field, cows placidly chewing the cud at its feet, this protected monument is locally known as "de Galge" (trans. the gallows).  Contrary to its name, however, nobody was ever hanged here. 

The neo-Gothic brick arcade used to be the orientation point of an elaborate hedge maze created between 1860 and 1870 by baron Jules Mazeman de Couthove, who owned the castle at the time.

The landmark was considered a symbol of the lord of the castle's jurisdiction, hence its sinister nickname.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent chilling out at the cottage ... and watching the domain's lawnmowers at work.

I'll be back with more soon. Hope to see you again in a couple of days!