Waffles and wetlands

On Saturday the 10th of September, we woke up to weak rays of sunlight trying to get the better of the overall layer of grey. Checking our weather app to see what the day would have in store for us, we were surprised when, contrary to earlier forecasts, it told us it would be mainly dry, with only a slight chance of rain. Nevertheless, we decided to stick to our original plan, and start the day with an indoor activity.

And no, it did not involve a ride in the time machine! Or perhaps it did, in a way, as the first part of Saturday's adventures was a trip back in time.

Instead of taking the time machine, however, we hopped into our car, finding ourselves in the pretty little town of Lo just over twenty minutes later. There, just a stone's throw from its market place, is the visitor centre of Biscuiterie Jules Destrooper, set up in their old factory premises.

The last time we were here, in 2017, a delicious smell of baking was still lingering in the air, but the last of the production lines was closed two years later, when the entire production was moved to the company's larger facilities in Ypres.

Foolishly, I'd only checked the visitor centre's website minutes before our arrival, which is why I only saw the Book a Spot button at the very last moment. Nevertheless, we decided to give it a try and see what happened. Judging from the number of cars and the coach parked in the spacious car park, it was quite busy - it was a Saturday after all - so it was with some trepidation that we approached the building and took the lift with its waffle-patterned doors to the first floor.

The nice lady at the ticket office assured us that there was no problem to fit us in as long as we didn't mind the inevitable crowds. Thankfully, these turned out not to be of the school children on an outing variety. Instead, there were one or two well-behaved groups, who seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of us, so that we could enjoy our visit and immerse ourselves in biscuit-making history in relative peace.

It was on 8 August 1885 that Jules Destrooper opened a small bakery in the town of Lo, which at that time still went by the old Flemish spelling name of Loo.

Ambitious by nature, he combined his bakery with a shop in colonial wares from Africa and Asia. An inspired idea, because that’s how he distinguished himself from the five other bakers in the village. Indeed, customers travelled to Lo especially for Jules’s coffee, tobacco, chocolate and spices.

At one point, Jules started using the spices from his shop to make wafer-thin Almond Thins, which he gave to his customers as a promotional gift. Soon, people started flocking to his shop for his Almond Thins rather than for the exotic merchandise. Jules immediately saw the potential of these popular biscuits and the rest, as they say, is history.

While the Almond Thins are still popular, it is the Butter Crisp (or "Lukke" in the local dialect), the crunchy thin waffle with its iconic diamond pattern created in 1890, which is the company's showpiece. It was named after the traditional biscuits that women in West Flanders would bake around New Year to give to family and friends as a way of wishing them good luck and prosperity.

The visit ends with a biscuit tasting opportunity and, very cleverly, the way out is through the shop, where all of the twenty-two current biscuit varieties are for sale. By the time we finished our tour, most people were queueing at the till, with only a handful of stragglers still stuffing their faces with free biscuits. We were promptly assigned a table for two, offered free cups of coffee, and obviously proceeded to do some sampling ourselves. The chocolaty ones were particularly yummy!

Afterwards, we left our car in the car park and proceeded to walk the 100 metres or so to the town's market square. The temperature, in the meantime, had climbed to nearly 20°C, so that it was balmy enough to leave our coats behind.

The market square is a gem, complete with adjacent village green and pond. On the far side of the green, the abbey of the Poor Clares is taking pride of place (below, top left and bottom right). The abbey was established in 1492 after the nuns arrived in Lo to nurse the plague victims. Enlarged in the 16th and 17th century, it now functions as the town hall after the nuns sold it to the town authorities in 2008.

Belgian readers might recognize it as the site of the town hall and police station in the Flemish comedy police series Chantal currently airing on Belgian television channel Eén, starring inspector Chantal Vantomme played by the wonderful Maaike Cafmeyer.

The square is dominated by the old town hall (below, top left and top and bottom right), built between 1565-1566, and its belfry, which were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

The semi-detached tower housed the town clock and a  miniature carillon. Two tower is supported by two pillars with rounded arches, at the bottom of which is a plinth where official announcements were read. Above the entrance is a gracious wrought iron sign with the coat of arms of the town (above, bottom left).

The insect-like iron creatures on the wrought iron railings are works of art and part of the annual sculpture and poetry festival which takes place here in the Summer months. 

Various works of art by different artists are displayed along a 2 kilometer heritage walking trail in the town centre.

I particularly loved the stainless steel, iron and bronze sculptures by Theo Claerhoudt (below, bottom left) and the inox horse's head by Roger Pintens in the abbey garden next to the church

I was also enamoured with the series of tiny oil paintings by Anne Vanoutryve, which were displayed inside the Neo-Gothic Sint-Pieters-Kerk (St. Peter's Church). 

The church used to be part of the local Augustinian abbey and was already mentioned in 1119. It has been repeatedly rebuilt. The side towers, the south transept and the aisles were built between 1435 and 1496. 

Upon entering the church, one is struck by its Renaissance opulence and its wealth of church treasures dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The wood carvings too are of exceptional quality, notably its richly carved misericords and a prime example of a confessional.

The intriguing tower which beckoned us at the end of a cobbled lane is actually a tall dovecote. 

The building was erected on the domain of the former Augustinian abbey in 1710, when a guy named Patricius Fraeys was its abbot. The tower has 1132 pigeonholes and apparently some pigeons are still nesting there.

If you are wondering about our serious faces, we were enraptured by one of the poems which were part of the festival, and which could be listened to at the touch of a button. 

Leaving the tower, we could see dark clouds approaching, so we quickened our step and returned to our car, which by now sat on its own in the visitor's car park. Indeed, we'd only just made it inside before the first raindrops started splattering our windscreen. Much to our relief, it didn't last long and, as it was well past lunch time by now, we had a car picnic while waiting it out.

Another 20-minute ride took us to our next destination, nature reserve De Blankaart, which lies on the edge of the River IJzer's flood plains.

This is a provincial domain with a large car park and a visitors centre which is housed in a picturesque castle. Originally built in 1860-1870, the current castle only dates from the 1920s as only its façade was spared the destruction of the First World War.

The castle is surrounded by a large park, beyond which lie watery grass and reedlands, with the vast IJzer wetlands behind them. It is the starting point for a choice of walks, one of which we did back in 2020. I'm sure you won't be surprised if I tell you that, in spite of the existence of the ubiquitous hexagonal signs indicating the walk, we managed to get lost quite early on. We did make it in the end, though.

This time we knew where we were going, even if we were only planning to do part of the walk.

Soon we reached a bridge with a decorative iron railing, offering the most wonderful view of the castle across a waterlily pad filled lake resided over by the statue of an otter. For some reason the weathered stone otter was now wearing shorts, a shirt and a cap!

Same as in 2020, there was a fierce wind blowing and playing havoc with my coiffure, although at about 22°C it was a couple of degrees warmer this time around.

I was wearing my Wow-To-Go shirt as a jacket on top of a three-quarter sleeved blouse, which you can catch a glimpse of in the opening collage. You'll recognize both the shirt and my Zara trousers from Wednesday's walk. All items charity shopped except for my walking shoes and crossbody handbag, which is my usual travelling companion.

Our walk took us on a succession of trails and boardwalks through meadows and marshland, offering a variety of panoramas. The calls of the many waterbirds who are lucky enough to call these wetlands their home only added to the magical atmosphere of this enchanting stretch of nature.

At one point, the boardwalk we were walking on ended at a stile, beyond which a herd of bored looking cows were waiting. Most of them hastily retreated at our approach, except for the one on the bottom left, who stood his ground and willingly posed for a photo.

We briefly took a breather and a snack on a bench, taking a rare selfie in which we don't end up looking too silly. Then we continued, getting closer and closer to our goal, which is the tower-like structure on the bottom right.

This is one of the reserve's watchtowers doubling as bird hides and climbing it rewarded us with a wonderful view over the wetlands.

The Summer drought, however, had left the landscape looking brittle and dry and there was noticeably less water compared with two years ago.

Back then, our walk continued past the tower until we reached a tarmacked lane, eventually veering off through a meadow and back to the reserve. 

This time, we just walked back the way we'd come, ending the day's adventure with coffee and a pack of waffles, which we had to share with this greedy creature.

A most perfect ending to a most perfect day!

Lo and behold

I'm continuing my travelogue with what we did on Wednesday, day five of our little holiday back in September.

Our feet still a bit sore from our long walk at the seaside, we wanted to take it a little bit easier the next day.

It was thus that we found ourselves in a place called Lo. At first sight it looks like a small provincial town, or indeed a somewhat overgrown village but, with just over 3000 inhabitants, it is actually Belgium's smallest city.

It wasn't my first visit to Lo. Indeed the first time I ever set foot there was back in the early 1980s, when my then boyfriend and I cycled to it by tandem all the way from Antwerp, a ride of almost 155 kilometers. We were visiting a friend who'd bought a dilapidated farm on the outskirts of the town and we stayed for 2 weeks, alternately sleeping in a tent, which had seen better days, and the farm's hayloft.

I hardly remember anything about Lo itself, other than it had a cheese factory where cheese could be bought cheaply directly from their shop.

The cheese factory might have moved on but there's another factory only a stone's throw from the market place, called Jules Destrooper.  Founded in 1886, they have been producing biscuits for well over a hundred years and, in order to celebrate their 125th anniversary, a visitor centre was opened in 2011.

While we were getting our bearings, a delicious smell of baking was lingering in the air, so we decided to follow our noses and make our way to the visitor centre, the mouthwatering aroma getting stronger as we were nearing the factory's premises.

In different rooms, the rich history of the family business and the art of biscuit making in general is laid out.

In one of the rooms, a film outlining the factory's history could be viewed, while sitting on stools made to look like boxes of Jules Destrooper biscuits.

At the end of the tour, there's an opportunity to sample the various biscuits on offer, accompanied by a cup of coffee or tea.

By then it was lunchtime but, having stuffed our faces with biscuits, we weren't at all hungry, so we followed a town trail, a leaflet of which can be obtained in the town's tourist office.

Same as in Nieuwpoort, there were works of art in every nook and cranny.

The picturesque West Gate, with its defence towers, is the only remaining gate of the town's original four.  Next to the gate is the Caesar tree where, according to legend, Julius Caesar tethered his horse and rested in its shade on his journey to Great Britain.

At the end of a cobbled lane lined by yet more works of art, an intriguing tower was beckoning. The tower is actually a tall dovecote, dating from 1710, with 1132 pigeon holes, which used to belong to an abbey. Some pigeons were still nesting there, although allegedly there were Pokémon hiding in there as well. A couple of Pokémon hunters were milling around the tower and rudely spoiling my view, which I proceeded to tell them in no uncertain terms.

The main square is dominated by the old town hall, complete with belfry tower, dating from the late 16th century, the ground floor of which is now used as a restaurant. On the other side of the square is the abbey of the Poor Clares, established in 1492 after the nuns arrived in Lo to nurse the plague victims. The abbey was enlarged in the 16th and 17th century and now functions as the town hall after the nuns sold it to the town authorities in 2008.

After a late-ish car picnic, we drove on to our next destination, Beauvoorde Castle, a veritable fairy tale moated castle hidden away in a landscaped park in the tiny village of Wulveringem.

After the original castle was burned down by bandits, it was rebuilt in 1617 in Renaissance style. At that time the castle was owned by Jacob de Bryarde, and it remained in the Bryarde family until 1828, when the family fortunes were in decline and the castle was falling into a state of increasing disrepair.

A visit starts at the visitor centre, where there is an introductory exhibition and you are supplied with an audio guide. Then you cross the bridge over the moat where, standing in the small courtyard, you have to pull the bell to gain entrance.

From the outside, Beauvoorde Castle appears to be a perfect example of a 17th century castle. But don’t be deceived. It was actually created in the late 19th century through the romantic vision of one man.

In 1875, wealthy aristocrat Arthur Merghelynck fell in love with the by then ruined castle. He was attracted by its picturesque setting, as well as its potential to fulfill his grand scheme.

Merghelynck was an incurable romantic who resented the increasing industrialization of Flanders. He wanted to cherish the atmosphere, style and romance of the past, and in particular the 17th century.

Over the next 27 years he  rebuilt and restored Beauvoorde Castle, and filled its many rooms with original Flemish furniture and art bought at auction, while anything he was unable to find, he had reproduced. The result is a 17th century castle fully furnished in the style of that period.

After extensively exploring the castle and its magnificent interiors, we took a stroll through the park, admiring the castle from all angles.

Before putting another lovely day to bed, here is a closer look at what I was wearing.

Dress: Belgian brand Who's That Girl, bought in the sales
Cardigan: H&M, flea market
Belt and Kitsch Kitchen bag: charity shopped
Flower corsage: retail
Necklace: Blender Vintage Shop
Shoes: Clarks Cloudsteppers, bought in the sales in Aberystwyth!
Leather jacket, as seen in some of the photos: Think Twice.

Linking to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style