Edingen, Gateway to Picard Wallonia

A varied walk on the border of the provinces of Hainaut and Walloon Brabant. We start from the station in Enghien on the edge of Picard Wallonia, to explore the spacious surroundings through Edingen Park. Walk between orchards, large fields with old castle farms, and the dismantled railway line 123 between Enghien and Braine-le-Comte.

Enghien and its park: 0km - 5km

A radiant sun at the beginning of autumn and consequently the perfect conditions to explore Enghien and its surroundings at the suggestion of a 'follower'. This city located in the province of Hainaut can be easily reached by IC train from Brussels, Kortrijk, or Geraardsbergen.

We start our route from the Enghien station, near the language border with Flemish Brabant’s Herne. Together with Lettelingen/Petit-Enghien and Mark/Marcq, Enghien forms a Walloon facilities municipality where predominantly Dutch was spoken until World War II. Since this city was established on the Roman road Bavay-Asse, it has already had an early development with a rich history as a result. Not only the St. Nicholas Church, but also the city park or Edingen Park are evidence of this.

Edingen Park - a walled domain of 182 ha where a castle stood since 1166. Destroyed by Baldwin V of Hainaut, it wasn't until the beginning of the 13th century that the castle was rebuilt and the surrounding forests were enclosed as a private hunting ground. From 1607, it came into the hands of the Arenbergs - a well-known noble family in Belgium, originally from the German Eifel and holders of the Duchy of Arenberg. Besides this large area in western Germany and this beautiful domain of Edingen, this family owned dozens of properties in our country which we can still admire today.

Among them are, for example, the Arenberg Palace in Brussels - now the Egmont Palace, the castle of Aigremont, castle of Arenberg in Heverlee, castle of Barbançon (Beaumont), castle of Beersel, castle of Beveren (Prosperpolder), castle of Bouchout, castle of Écaussinnes-Lalaing, castle Haultepenne in Gleixhe, castle of Loenhout, castle of Marche-les-Dames, castle of Mirwart, castle of Opprebais, tower of Rotselaar, castle of Vorselaar, and the castle of Wisbecq. But also the Meerdaalwoud, the Heverleebos, and the Hallerbos formed part of their possessions.

Between 1630 and 1665, the Princes of Arenberg had several gardens laid out that were among the most beautiful in Europe. Even Louis XIV of France, known as 'the Sun King', had his landscape architect André le Nôtre travel there in 1671 - at the recommendation of his cousin Anna of Montpensier - to get inspiration for the design of the gardens of Versailles.

There were several fountains, water features, pavilions, triumphal arches, statues, a Parnassus hill, an orangery, a lover's theater, a mallet course (medieval golf) with an inn, a motte with an artificial cave where fake birds chirped, and much more. Actually, it was a bit of an amusement park of its time, but only for princes and noble people...

With the outbreak of the French Revolution and especially the Battle of Jemappes (1793), the domain was plundered, causing the Arenbergs to flee. Upon their return, the castle was in such poor condition that it was demolished around 1803, at the order of Louis Engelbert of Arenberg. The same duke who became blind here at the age of 24 due to a hunting accident. Shotgun pellets accidentally hit his face, which earned him the nickname 'the blind duke'.

Only under the care of his son Prosper did this Edingen Park experience a resurgence. The construction of a new palm house with exotic plants, where he donated his collection to Leopold's Royal Greenhouses in Laeken in 1877.

François Empain took this domain on lease in 1913 to build a new castle in Louis XVI style or the current castle of Edingen for the Arenbergs. In light of World War I, which caused all the possessions of the Arenbergs to be placed under sequestration - a form of confiscation of an enemy country due to their German ancestry - François Empain was forced to purchase this domain in 1924.

With the construction of the A8/E429 highway, part of the domain was expropriated, leading the Empain family to put their domaine up for sale. Fortunately, this was bought by the municipality of Edingen in 1986, making this beautiful park publicly accessible. The current park is still wilder than it originally was, but Renaissance-Baroque gardens returned to this forest. The Chapel Tower hidden among some trees is the only medieval remnant, but there are still numerous buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, such as the Pavilion of the Seven Stars that was restored in 2006, the Chinese pavilion, and the Slavenpoort (triumphal arch) from 1660 that was moved in 1725 to the current entrance of the park.

Castle farm of Warelles: 5km - 8km

We leave this beautiful Edingen Park next to the golf courses of Enghien to head towards the castle farm of Warelles via Rue Noir Mouchon. This car-free agricultural road and also cycling junction takes us through a rolling landscape with large fields. This region presents itself as Picard Wallonia and is located in the western part of the province of Hainaut, which includes Enghien. Unlike the two adjacent and heavily industrialized regions 'Borinage' and 'Centre', this landscape has developed into traditional farmland and has thus remained green.

The second characteristic of this region is the dialect 'Picard'. A local language derived from the Germanic language and Latin that is spoken in parts of France and Belgium. Like many dialects, this language is now only spoken by older people or passed orally to the new generation. However, the number of people proficient in this language is significantly dwindling.

A typical landscape feature of Picard Wallonia is the many historic castles and their associated castle farms. This is also evidenced by the next point on our path - Château de Warelles. This castle with farm offers an authentic picture of the numerous old farms that this region harbors. We take a path through the meadow towards the A8/E429 highway, beside which lies HSL1. The Belgian high-speed line that connects Brussels via Lille to Paris and London.

Old railway line 123 between Enghien & 's-Gravenbrakel: 8km - 10 km

Once over the highway and the high-speed line, a narrow path takes us further through these large fields to the border of Braine-le-Comte ('s-Gravenbrakel). This path or the old track bed of railway line 123 took you from Geraardsbergen to 's-Gravenbrakel until 1988. As of 2022, you can explore large parts on foot or by bike to travel car-free between Enghien and 's-Gravenbrakel. We turn off earlier at the 's-Gravenbrakelse hamlet of Stoquois, to arrive at various nurseries at the border of the province of Walloon Brabant.

A bit of Walloon Brabant: 10km - 14 km

An agricultural road and then Chemin Gallet lead us to the hamlet of Le Paradis. A paradise of orchards, nurseries, and vistas over these Walloon Brabant fields, with the village of Rebecq-Rognon (Roosbeek) in the distance. The hills that we see behind the village are the result of years of mining porphyry in the largest surface mine in Europe near Quenast (Kenast).

Located in the Walloon Zenne Valley, the districts of Quenast (Kenast), Bierghes (Bierk) & Rebecq-Rognon (Roosbeek) form the municipality of Rebecq. Furthermore, Bierghes also has a large porphyry quarry that we will encounter later on our path. When we cross the A8/E429 highway and the high-speed line again via Rue Haute Folie, we arrive in the territory of the village of Wisbecq (Wisbeek). Located between the various villages of Rebecq, this village, however, belongs to the district of Saintes (Sint-Renelde) and thus to the municipality of Tubize (Tubeke).

Petit-Enghien / Lettelingen: 14km - 17km

We leave Rue Haute Folie at the porphyry quarry of Bierghes (Bierk) to re-enter the province of Hainaut via an unpaved path. We cross the stream Le Querton via Chemin Du Cimetière to emerge next to the cemetery of Petit-Enghien/Lettelingen after about a hundred meters.

In this district of Enghien/Edingen, you can find the 18th-century St. Salvator Church where they hold the annual procession of the Holy Savior on the 2nd day of Pentecost.

The village owes its name to "Klein-Ingen", which refers to Little Enghien . Just like in French, Enghien & Petit-Enghien or in Picard - Ingî & P'tit Ingî. In terms of area, it is much larger than the small city of Enghien and apparently the place where the famous cyclist Eddy Merckx won his first race on October 1, 1961, about 61 years ago. Although none of us were born then...

Old railway line 123 between 's-Gravenbrakel - Enghien: 17km - 19.3km

When we leave the village center of Petit-Enghien via Rue de la Gayolle, we come across the old railway line 123 again, where we already walked a piece earlier that day.

This old railway line has also been transformed here into a narrow path, but until 1988 it still had passenger trains passing with miners from the Flemish Brabant Pajottenland heading to the many coal mines in Wallonia. The tracks were already dismantled in 1989 and have thus largely grown into a nice connection between the two cities Enghien/Edingen and Braine-le-Comte ('s-Gravenbrakel).

Here and there are inaccessible parts, just like a section of 200m where we have to deviate from this old railway line. When we cross the N7-Chaussée de Bruxelles and walk again on this old track, this path has turned into a wooded strip. Here and there, you can still find the old cable ducts of the railway network or other railway elements in this pedestrian path that takes us back to the Enghien/Edingen station.

Heading home and enjoying a radiant sun with ideal temperatures from this piece of Picard Wallonia, where we certainly try to explore a different area.