Herzele

Herzele is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality has more than 16,500 inhabitants and is located on the edge of the Flemish Ardennes. It is a national 'harbinger' of it. As a small municipality, Herzele has a fairly rich past.

As early as the seventh century, a castle was erected in the centre of the municipality, which would become the centre of a lot of political turmoil, including battles between the people of Ghent and the Count of Flanders. The Castle was permanently reduced to ashes during the Spanish occupation.

In the borough of Ressegem there is still a village motte and one suspects Frankish or Roman settlements. There is also a castle in Steenhuize. Three windmills accentuate the rural character. Two breweries still operate in the municipality: Van Den Bossche in Sint-Lievens-Esse and De Ryck in Herzele itself. Various initiators have developed a dozen walking, cycling and driving routes, some of which run past residential tourism initiatives. In the south of the municipality there is a nature reserve, the Duivenbos.

On a cultural level, you will find a number of musicians in Herzele (DobroJean, Erik De Wolf, Groove Grocery, Wigbert), poets (EH Amedé Suenaert, Carla Cosyns) and painters (Dirk De Middeleer, Jan Florin) who sometimes gained (inter)national fame. There are quite a few cultural facilities (library, cultural center). A number of progressive movements grouped around vzw 't Uilekot and together set up a fourteen-day programme of culture, discussion, education and action. The non-profit organisation also has a book café open on Friday and Saturday evenings. The non-profit organisation Gamma also brings a lot of initiatives, including its own film programme, to the municipality.

In addition, in Herzele you will find:

- a neo-Gothic church from 1912;
- the castle ruins from 1579.
chapel from 1636.
- two milling windmills: Windmill Te Rullegem and Mill Ter Rijst

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