Picking Garden Piljoenstraat

This pick-your-own garden on Piljoenstraat is not just any ordinary orchard. In addition to the orchard filled with numerous half-standard fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry, medlar, plum), you will also find nut trees and plenty of small fruit. The meter-long trained fruit hedge is the cherry on top.

A boost for biodiversity!

Biodiversity is a gift to nature, but also to ourselves. It involves more than just plants, animals, and their ecosystems. We, humans, and our need for food, fresh air, and water also depend on all other life on Earth.

• There is a wadi to collect rainwater, attracting water-loving plants and animals.
• The flower meadow, in turn, attracts various pollinators.
• The bird grove of native shrubs blooms beautifully and bears many berries in the autumn. Birds can find food and shelter there.
• The pollarded willows with branch bundles are, in turn, ideal homes for hedgehogs and overwintering amphibians.

Gateway to picking joy

In September 2019, 3Architecten started work on the façade of the St. Joseph Church, located at Deken de Saegherplein in Roeselare. The repurposing of the former church required a more open entrance. The rather closed façade with the old entrance doors was replaced with a 12-meter-wide glass section. For all works inside and outside the church, reuse was chosen whenever possible.

With this circular thought, an effort was also made to find a new purpose for the two original entrance doors made from Congolese Moabi hardwood. During the design phase of the pick-your-own garden, the doors came into view and were integrated into the project. This way, they were given a new life as the entrance to the fruit orchard.

The entrance gate was realized in collaboration with the VDAB construction training programs in Roeselare. The trainees in earthworks, formwork, masonry, flooring, and carpentry all contributed under the expert guidance of their instructors. VDAB identified with the values of this project. Circular building and inclusivity are also important focal points for VDAB.

Toerisme Roeselare