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Alden Biesen High-Stem Orchard

Alden Biesen High-Stem Orchard

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Alden Biesen High-Stem Orchard

Recommended by 28 hikers out of 29

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Location: Bilzen, Tongeren, South Limburg, Flanders, Belgium

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Best Hikes to Alden Biesen High-Stem Orchard

4.6

(70)

499

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1. Kasteel Alden Biesen – Landcommanderij Alden Biesen loop from Martenslinde

4.85km

01:18

50m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

4.4

(27)

198

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2. Alden Biesen Commandery – Alden Biesen Castle loop from Hoeselt

8.74km

02:18

70m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

4.3

(10)

134

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3. Kasteel Alden Biesen – Landcommanderij Alden Biesen loop from Martenslinde

4.63km

01:14

50m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

Tips

April 21, 2024

In the standard orchards of Alden Biesen, which you get a taste of here, five hundred (500!) varieties of various types of fruit are grown. Alden Biesen's first standard orchards were established approximately in the sixteenth century. The domain and its surroundings are of course also very popular in the spring with the blossoms of all those apples, pears, plums, apricots and other cherries.

Translated by Google •

Dominiek Van Dooren

May 14, 2025

Today, both high-stem orchards of Alden Biesen are part of a fructuarium, a collection of old fruit varieties of cherries, apples, pears and plums with the aim of preserving this genetic material for the future. In the walled deer meadow, some 70 old cherry varieties were grafted onto young high rootstocks. In 2012, the high-stem collection was further expanded.

The high-stem orchards in Haspengouw have a high experiential value and contribute to the regional identity of the landscape. High-stem orchards have a high ecological and natural value, they are a particularly attractive habitat for many plant and animal species. The combination with extensively managed grassland is particularly interesting for nature.
(Inventory of Immovable Heritage)

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Koppen

April 11, 2024

For many centuries, people in South Limburg have been planting fruit trees around their house: apples, pears, plums, cherries and nuts. There was a hawthorn hedge around the fruit meadow and cows grazed under the trees.

Due to the rise of low-stem fruit cultivation, many standard fruit trees were cut down after the Second World War. Others fell into disuse. This resulted in the loss of an important landscape and ecological function. After all, standard fruit trees are particularly valuable for biodiversity.

Alden Biesen is the standard orchard of Flanders. The landscape around the Landcommanderij is one of the few places in Flanders where the typical standard orchard landscape has remained intact. The standard orchards on the domain together form a fructuary in which old fruit varieties are preserved. More than 40 hectares of standard fruit orchards, organically managed, are fully fruitful at the end of September. However, the trees are at their best during the blossom period.

Standard fruit trees are also very important from a cultural-historical point of view and the development of new fruit varieties. They contain an enormous source of genetic diversity of fruit varieties.

For this reason, the planting, restoration and conservation of standard orchards occupies an important place within the operation of Regional Landscape Haspengouw and Voeren, often as part of a larger landscape project.

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Elevation 130 m

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Tuesday 11 November

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Max wind speed: 14.0 km/h

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Location: Bilzen, Tongeren, South Limburg, Flanders, Belgium

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Alden Biesen High-Stem Orchard

1. Kasteel Alden Biesen – Landcommanderij Alden Biesen loop from Martenslinde

2. Alden Biesen Commandery – Alden Biesen Castle loop from Hoeselt

3. Kasteel Alden Biesen – Landcommanderij Alden Biesen loop from Martenslinde

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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