ウォータールーの洞窟・トップ20

Excellent quality hotel and restaurant

To see and don't hesitate to get lost there

Beautiful but very busy. Good to know!

Early in the morning to avoid the crowds

Le Château du Lac is best known today as a 5-star hotel. Events are also often organised there and that is why I know it from a professional long-gone past. But the building, whether you call it a castle or rather a glorified villa, it does have a fairly intense past. In the past, the mineral water of Genval was collected and bottled here. Together with the source of Bonne Fontaine, the Château du Lac was the true symbol of Genval-les-Eaux. The Etablissement des Eaux, as it was originally called, was built between 1905 and 1907 by the architect Julien Wendrickx, the future production director of the Compagnie Internationale des Eaux Minérales, to house the collection of sources and the bottling of the mineral water of Genval. After the First World War and the receivership of the companies that managed the Genval site, the castle became the property of an English company before being taken over by the Princes of Merode, who leased the facilities to Schweppes Belgium. The Belgian branch was then managed by John Martin, an English brewer based in Antwerp, who had been importing beers from Great Britain and Ireland to the continent since 1909, including the famous Guinness. He obtained the exclusive production rights for the Schweppes range, which he transferred to Genval in 1952 following the deterioration in the quality of Antwerp's drinking water, which was now pumped into the Albert Canal. Since the divestment of Schweppes in 1988, the John Martin group has further diversified its range, with speciality beers (Timmermans, Gordon, etc.), soft drinks (Orangina) and fruit juices (Looza). After the Schweppes factory moved to Rue du Cerf, the château, now owned by the Martin family, was converted into the five-star Château du Lac Source: https://www.parismatch.be/lifestyle/voyages/2020/08/23/le-lac-de-genval-et-ses-villas-2D3Q25DBTVANBFBV5WXJG3R2NI/

The Genval lake is located in the Zilverbeek valley. The artificial lake is located for the most part on the territory of Overijse and was constructed by order of lawyer and businessman Gustave Smets - Mondez. The 18 ha lake was constructed in 1904 in an area with a series of spring-rich ponds and marshes through which the Zilverbeek or the Argentine flowed. The Zilverbeek still flows along the lake on the Overijse side. The area attracted many tourists from the very beginning. Around 1900, the urban development plans were also drawn up for the construction of the park on the Walloon side. Several impressive villas were built here that were reminiscent of copies of buildings from Versailles and monuments on the Swiss Lake Lucerne. On the Overijse side, there was less interest in the construction, which is why the slopes are less developed than on the Walloon side, where it was promoted as a spa. After the First World War, the lake was sold to John Martin (1886-1966), an English brewer from Antwerp. He would establish the Schweppes factory here (Belgian license) in the "Château du Lac" (until 1981). The lake is still in the hands of his heirs. On the Meerlaan there are still a few cottage-style villas overlooking the lake. These villas are depicted on various old postcards and are still recognizable today but have been heavily modified. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Maleizen, https://id.erfgoed.net/themas/14294

"La sirène du lac", as sculptor Michal named his statue, stands in the lake at the height of - of course - "Le Château du Lac", today a hotel. This siren apparently preferred an artificial lake to a river or sea, but people are said to sometimes think of eroticism when they are near water, and ultimately erotic song is the seductive weapon of sirens. We should not spoil the legacy of Hans Christian Andersen's "Lille Havfrue" by making comparisons, because that little mermaid grew up in the sea and has a statue in a harbour instead of a large lake that was created on behalf of a lawyer and businessman. The statue was commissioned by Jean Vanderbecken (RIP), former mayor of Rixensart for the MR, and fits in perfectly with the atmosphere of the "Château" and the "lake" as it has been developed on the French-speaking side.

The ivy-wrapped castle...