When you enter this forest, you immediately notice that you are walking along a (now - even after the rainfall at the end of August 2023 - dry, square rampart.
A rampart... but nothing to see that needs to be walled in.
Just looked it up:

In the Middle Ages, there was supposed to have been a country house for one of the Counts of Flanders within this rampart. In any case, nothing can be found of the castle that was supposed to have been built of wood. Until around 1910, there was a stone building within the rampart that served as a 'hunting lodge' when the noble families came to hunt. The Hemelrijk reached its recreational peak shortly after the Second World War. An open-air swimming pool was dug on a site that now borders the eastern side of the forest. The swimming pool was directly connected to the Letterbeek, which had to ensure that the water was permanently refreshed.

The water from the Letterbeek was drinkable at the time. In 1981, the municipality of Sint-Lievens-Houtem bought the meanwhile neglected domain Hemelrijk. The domain was redesigned. The paths are buggy and wheelchair friendly.

Source: sint-lievens-houtem.be/hemelrijk

Translated by Google •

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Details

Informations

Distance 556 m

Uphill 10 m

Downhill 10 m

Weather

Today

Sunday 19 October

15°C

13°C

100 %

If you start your activity now...

Max wind speed: 11.0 km/h

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Location: Sint-Lievens-Houtem, Aalst, East Flanders, Flanders, Belgium

Hemelrijk Forest Paths

1. St. Stephen's Church Zonnegem – Mariagrot Vlierzele loop from Vlierzele

2. Mariagrot Vlierzele – Pond in Marshy Meadow loop from Vlierzele

3. Mariagrot Vlierzele – Hemelrijk Forest Paths loop from Vlierzele

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