Bassegembos Nature Reserve

Bassegembos (Kaster): Not accessible, except for guided walks. This forest is owned and managed by the nature association Natuurpunt. Old oak and hornbeam forest. Is included in the 1st phase of the Flemish Ecological Network (VEN).

At the end of April, the bluebell, an indicator of old forest, covers the forest with a blue carpet of flowers.

The forest itself is not freely accessible. Guided visits are organized on a regular basis. The Bassegembos walk on the Land van Streuvels walking network does pass by the area. The route is not suitable for wheelchair users and pushchairs. They can follow junctions 52-94-95-98 and rejoin the marked walk.

The Bassegembos is a fairly small nature reserve, somewhat isolated between different meadows. However, the area has a lot of potential for nature development. The Bassegembos is a very valuable oak forest with wild hyacinth. The fact that you will find forest walls, wild hyacinth and old coppice stoves here indicates that this is a very old forest. Forest walls served as a cattle barrier in the Middle Ages. Wild hyacinth, a species that spreads only very slowly, occurs en masse here. And the coppice stoves are several hundred years old. Sources research cannot find any indications that the area has ever been anything other than forest.

Particularly characteristic is the spring flora, the eye-catcher in early spring. In addition to the dominant species, the wild hyacinth, there are about twenty other species typical of an old forest. Other eye-catchers are the giant beech, which is very centrally located in the forest, and the mysterious eminence on the north side, which in the past already gave rise to speculations as a prehistoric burial mound or an old rabbit mound.

This forest was long in noble hands and served mainly as a hunting ground and for wood. This is how it escaped the agricultural reclamations over the years. Good thing, too. The forest developed into a valuable beacon in the landscape where you can enjoy a fantastic spring bloom every spring.

Willem Vandenameele