Meikensbossen reception

On the border between Tielt and Dentergem, a new tourism and recreation center is being built in and around Poelberg . The Meikensbossen is at the foot of the hill and has an area of approximately 63 hectares.

You can enjoy a pleasant walk through a varied landscape. Old and young forest , driftwood, hay and meadows. A pool here and there. The view of the Poelbergmühle completes the picture. While you enjoy the scenery, the songbirds provide a nice interlude.

The name Meikensbossen has only recently come into use and derives from the place name "het Meike" , which is well-known in the area. Previous names are vijversbos, bunders or lock bosses. In old writings we read even more picturesque names for forest plots that have disappeared from the past: Zwanenestjen , Schrooitje, Erbeziebosch and Biesbulkske or plots with less picturesque names like Sperren-, Els- or Steenbos.

On the Ferraris maps you can see that 200 years ago the area of today's Meikensbos was still a forest area , the so-called Dendrombosch . In the 19th century these forests were fragmented. The constant felling of firewood during both world wars and the subsequent clearing of farmland reduced the forest area to a meager 5 hectares.

Between 2000 and 2010, the Nature and Forestry Agency bought 46 hectares of land in this area, of which 3.5 hectares belonged to old Vijverbos.

The young Meikensbos already offers a surprising variety of landscapes between old and young forest, natural meadows and seed plantations.

As the name Vijverbos suggests, most soils here are wet to very wet . The very wet poplar forest will be converted to the more natural forest of alder and cherry trees.

Willem Vandenameele