Windmills in Meerhouts Neteland

In this walk around Meerhout you enter the very agricultural valley of the upper reaches of the Grote Nete. The river still meanders unwalled between scattered farms. Nature therefore takes its course freely and that also applies to the wind. Due to the absence of large forests, it is given free rein. The two windmills along the way (including the oldest in the province of Antwerp) prove that the people of Meerhouten always lived close to nature.

1. Appointment at the market (V) of Meerhout. With the St Trudo church and the kiosk in your back, you walk into the Gasthuisstraat. On the corner is the Drossaardhuis (1723), once the residence of the drossaard or bailiff who spoke here on behalf of the Lords of Diest. Walk past the De Berk nursing home and you will arrive at the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre (14th century). Across the street, take the path next to a hedge of ivy. On the left behind a row of canada poplars is the walled Monnikenhoeve (1718). At the Grote Nete turn right. Cross the Meerhout-Mol road and you will arrive at the watermill (1678). (1) Cross the bridge on the left and keep right along the river. After a grove you come to a field road. (walking junction 74). Follow it on the right. You walk next to fields and cross the wooden Machieltjens bridge and you arrive on the other bank of the still winding Grote Nete. Suddenly the path makes a right-angled turn. Follow it and turn your back on the Grote Nete. Ignore a road on the left and, after a few turns, turn left on the T. ( node 62)
2. At farm 't Creyndert, turn left and take an earth road immediately on the right. You are now walking through a beautiful agricultural landscape. Ignore a side road on the right, turn left with the road and then take the first path on the right. Follow the beautiful oak drive to the edge of the forest. Turn left and, after the forest, take the first path on the right. (junction 58). On the left, you see in the distance, the church of Hulsen. The path widens and turns into asphalt. At the end, follow to the right. Don't worry about side roads and walk up to the Meerhout-Olmen road. Right. Take the first street on the left, the Bremstraat.
3. On the T (junction 57) follow the Haagstraat to the right. Ignore all side streets and keep following the Haagstraat until the end. At farm De Nachtegael (junction 64) turn right. At the Y junction (junction 63) take the Heistraat on the left. You walk towards the water tower. At junction 65, turn right and immediately left onto Zijstraat. You are now close to the water tower. In the bend you can see the white barn with the thatched roof (18th century) of the Prinsenhoeve. Just before you arrive at the farm, take the Vaalstraat on the right. The road bends to the left. Ignore the Watertorenstraat on the right and at junction 48 take the Prinskensmolenweg on the right to the Prinskensmolen (2), the oldest wooden standard mill in the province. From 1500 to 1820 it was owned by the Princes of Orange.
4. Return to Vaalstraat and turn right. . Ignore a road on the right that leads into the new subdivision. Cross a street and follow a narrow path through the fields. At junction 47, turn right. At the end you enter a street with a chapel. Follow the Kapellestraat to the left. Cross an intersection and keep walking straight ahead. On the T you turn left and at the fork with a chapel from 1925, under two lime trees, you step straight into the Lievevrouweweg. You walk past the cemetery and ignore a street on the left. You follow the road that is now called Breepoel. At junction 41, turn left into Oude Molenstraat. Ignore Genebroeksveld on the left and all streets on the right. At the T junction you follow the dirt road to the left until you can take a narrow path on the right, at junction 38, that leads to the windmill of Zittaart (3). This wooden standard mill was built in 1720 by the abbey of Averbode in Veerle and transferred to Zittaart in 1943.
5. At the mill, follow the street to the right and take the narrow path on the left just past the church. Cross a small road in the subdivision and continue the road to Meerhout and follow the Schans. At the fork, follow Koepoortstraat straight ahead. At the next quadrangle (at the electricity cabin) take the Engstraat on the right, direction forest. Walk through the forest and at the crossroads with a beautiful forest chapel you cross the Speelpleinstraat. The Korte Engstraat comes from the right and you walk to the left. You come back to civilization. Always straight ahead now, don't worry about the side roads. At the end turn right and you are back on the Markt.