Picnic in the park - Parc du Château de Beloeil

Summer is fading away already... Even on a beautiful, sunny day as today I wouldn't leave the house without a coat. Winter is coming... Still it wasn't long ago that we were enjoying picnic time, running around barefoot and in t-shirts! Oh, good times.

The initiative is called Picnic in the Park. Or rather a pique-pique, in Wallonia. Or Garden Meetings...
You see, I am a little bit confused myself. I have found references to this event on several pages, including the Tourism Office of Brussels and Wallonia, each presenting just a tiny little bit different information. They should really work on that...

The idea is simple though. The region of Wallonia is promoting itself with their best - the food, with a catchy slogan "Taste the Difference". As a part of this program you can attend loads of different places and events - markets, festivals, demonstrations... Thanks to the link posted on LinkedIn The Brussels Connection group by the owner of Belgafiles website I have learnt about the picnics.

I have learnt late, as it was already beginning of September and the official website lists only the picnics up to 2nd September... The Belgafiles website though contains information about the 5 picnics during the month of September (you see, I wasn't overstating that there's an informational mess out there....).
Despite the difficulties finding information, on 16th September we packed our plaids and set our course for Parc de Beloeil.



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It is a good hour drive from Brussels, but especially in the nice weather, Belgian countryside is a pleasure to drive through. Even if you don't enjoy the road, you won't regret it, because picnic or not - this place is STUNNING!

See the map of the garden at the website: http://jardins.tourismewallonie.be/visiter/parc_du_chateau_de_beloeil

There you can also see information about other parks participating, and if you set your website in French or Dutch, you can download mp3 files with the guide around each park.

I would also expect the calendar of picnics, but they seem to contain only historical data. Mess again... Oh, but who cares, with views like that!

You can see the full history of the castle and the park on its official website: http://www.chateaudebeloeil.com. 

As for the picnic, at the place there's a small site prepared, where you can pick up picnic bags, buy a beer or an ice-cream. Adult picnic bag came for 10€ and contained couple of sandwiches with local products, bottle of water, pack of cheese and an apple. There were children bags too, for 5€, but we didn't see what's inside them. We also had our own food prepared, which is a good idea if you plan a longer stay. And by we, I mean Jon prepared it. We ate it. 

For everyone, whether you bought your basket or not, there was a free guided tour around the park available (in French). Not that many people were crazy enough to actually move out of their blankets, so we had our lady-guide just to ourselves. It was a visit worth the time, talking about history of the place, the types of gardens, and the purpose of little lakes (one to have carps for the supper, one for the ladies bath time, one to serve as a giant fridge...)

To profit fully from the trip we also decided to visit the castle itself. That pleasure costs 4€ (without a guide). It's not a very big castle, but it is beautiful and interesting. You will find plenty of paintings and sculptures, whole rooms arranged as they were in the past and a breathtaking (if you like books, that is) library.

We finished our day with couple of rounds of cold beer in the local cafe. Everyone enjoys the good Belgian beer (on the picture my favourite for hot days - Hoegaarden Blanche).

(I was actually asked - no, she haven't really drink the beer!)

I am definitely planning to profit more from this event next year - as it goes on from the spring and through the whole summer.

Keep your fingers crossed for good weather this Sunday, because there's a last picnic of the year - in Mariemont, and we are planning to go!