EBTS UK visits BELGIUM
September 17-21 2026
By Charlotte Maclean and Elizabeth Hilliard
In our anniversary year of 2026, and to celebrate 30 years of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society, EBTS UK enjoyed a fantastic tour of two areas of Belgium, Flanders in the north, which is Flemish speaking, and Wallonia in the south where the main language is French. UK organiser Charlotte Maclean thanks all of EBTS Belgium but particularly Karel Goossens, whose plant nursery we visited; Véronique Goblet d’Alviella, Chair of EBTS Belgium; and Stephane Vranckx for hosting us and helping to arrange visits to fabulous private gardens.
The group mostly travelled by Eurostar from London to Lille on the morning of Thursday 17th September 2026. In the afternoon of that day we visited two gardens near Damme, Bonem Hoeve and Château de Oostkerke, a moated house. Then on to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bruges.
On Friday 18th September we drove by bus back to Damme where, thanks to one of our members, we had a fascinating visit to Huis St Jan. This historic house has been beautifully restored by its current owners, but its fame lies in events of 4th July 1468 when the contractual marriage took place in its main hall of Margaret of York and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Known as ‘the marriage of the century’, the alliance reshaped European geopolitics, trade and the English War of the Roses.
In the afternoon we visited Karel Goossens at his nursery in Oostkamp, opened in 1989, where we enjoyed a fascinating tutorial in box husbandry from Karel who is one of the great contemporary authorities on growing and preserving buxus.
Our final visit this day was to nearby Beernem, home of EBTS member Barbara D’hoore and her daughter Anastasia, both of whom are bioengineers and landscape gardeners and who welcomed us warmly. They describe their garden as being ‘within a framework of beautifully laid-out lines of hedges and trees’. Finally we transferred to the Hotel du Lac in Genval.
The following three days were spent in southern Belgium, firstly at the Annevoie water gardens, home of Mr and Mrs Ernest Tom-Loumaye. This garden is renown as the oldest water garden in Europe, with beautiful natural fountains and water features in a mix of Italianate and English styles. Lunch was at the nearby Chateau de Bioul, which blends a thousand-year-old history with today’s premier organic and biodynamic wine estates.
In the afternoon we headed to Les Sous-Bois in Wépion. This garden was designed by the owner, Philippe Taminiaux, who showed us round. The house and garden are in a breathtaking position, set into the hillside overlooking the valley of river Meuse, with many rooms and special areas, and a discreet haha keeping at bay a flock of handsome sheep. It is an impressive site, created from a forest in just 20 years.
Sunday morning 20th September was spent at Kreftenbroeck where we were shown round by the chatelaine, Catherine du Roy de Blicquy. This garden on the outskirts of Brussels was partially designed by the renowned Belgian landscape architect Jacques Wirtz and is 5 hectares in size, including a renowned arboretum. After lunch at the Lion de Waterloo pub, and a visit by some to the famous Waterloo battle museum, we headed to the home of Richard and Véronique Goblet d’Alviella.
Veronique kindly invited us to their beautiful Château de Court-Saint-Etienne, where we spent the afternoon admiring her marvellous gardens and park with bountiful topiary, hedges and trees, inspired by her time living in England, her interest in dendrology and her involvement with founding the EBTS. She was presented with a tree to add to her collection, complete with a plaque explaining its connection with the 30th anniversary of our society.
Richard and Véronique welcomed not only members of EBTS UK and Belgium, but also Anne de Rincquesen and her husband Arnaud representing EBTS France, at a gala dinner celebrating our first 30 years together. It was a magnificent event with outstanding food, wine and company, and charming speeches by Veronique, Richard, Karel Goossens, Anne de Rincquesen and our own Charlotte Maclean, who presented a gift of appreciation to Veronique. Our heartfelt thanks not only to Veronique and Richard for their generosity (and Richard for exceptional wines), but also to everyone behind the scenes involved in providing the splendid dinner and seamless service at our commemorative gala. We will not quickly forget the astonishing buffet of puddings at the end of our meal…
Our final day was Monday 21st September when we visited the extensive Arboretum Wespelaar at Haacht. Here, owner Philippe de Spoelberch and gardener Quentin walked round with us. A passionate dendrologist, Philippe began his botanical collections in the 1970s and now counts more than 2,300 species of trees and shrubs, all meticulously labelled. The arboretum has been compared to an open-air laboratory, committed to saving threatened trees from extinction. This was our last visit of an unforgettable garden tour of Belgium before, tired but elated, we caught the Eurostar back to London.
