Ice cellar

As we almost return to the castle, we encounter the ice cellar from 1835. Atop a hill stands the tea pavilion where the lord of the castle would come to drink something with his guests. “The ice cellar consists of a deep, barrel-shaped pit that is 4 meters deep and 3 meters wide. In winter, ice from the ponds was stored on beams and straw on the bottom and covered with hay to insulate the cellar. This way, the ice often lasted until summer. The lord of the castle stored his cuts of meat here, but also residents or doctors could keep their medicines here. It was an old-fashioned refrigerator.”

Today, the restored ice cellar is home to bats that hibernate there. “Sometimes there are up to 26 bats here. Annually, we do a count with the non-profit organization and Natuurpunt Voorkempen, which is responsible for the management. In Belgium, you can find nine species of bats. They are useful animals because they eat their weight in insects in one night,” our guide shares. Currently, you cannot enter the ice cellar. However, it is accessible during the Bat Night, an event by Natuurpunt.

GVA - Gazet van Antwerpen