The best dog-friendly hikes and walks around Kalkense Meersen

Roadside chapel dedicated to Our Lady or Mary Mother of Sorrows and historically related to the adjacent site of the Van Hauweirsmolen, a water mill operated by the Van Hauweir family since the beginning of the 19th century. A framed memorial hung in the chapel states that the chapel was built in 1886. Registered in the land registry in 1887 as a new chapel, owned by the heirs of farmer Felicien Van Hauwermeir. According to the notes of pastor De Somer in the Liber Memorialis, the chapel was built by the widow of Feliciaen Van Hauwermeir in honor of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. The plan of the chapel is said to have been by her son August. (Inventory of Immovable Heritage)

The centuries-old pollard lime (Tilia x europaea) is located southeast of the parish church of Saint Martin on the village square of Massemen. The tree has a trunk circumference of 7.19 m. Since the redevelopment of the square, the tree has been somewhat isolated on a traffic island with some low vegetation around it. (Inventory of Immovable Heritage)

Beautiful view of water, fields, trees, nature. Wonderful to walk here.

The image of Daphne being chased by Apollo, while she changes into a tree, in order to escape the desire of this god, is well-known in Greek mythology. The image of Daphne transforming into a tree is her salvation from a fate she does not wish to undergo. In this way she escapes the greed of Apollo, who embodies a materialistic desire with this boundless urge to possess. Daphne is the opposite of that. Through her innocence she becomes, as it were, untouchable. (Standbeelden.be)

The brick chimney shaft forms a freestanding construction within the old mill yard that is partly surrounded by the former mill buildings. With its height of 21.5 metres, the chimney towers strongly above the rural industrial buildings next to the mill stream. The chimney starts on a high square base with a rectangular recess on each side. The substructure was finished by a stepped, projecting brick cornice. The foot of the round brick chimney pipe has a stepped, widening start. The chimney pipe narrows clearly towards the top. The end has a projecting, raised edge. (Inventory of Immovable Heritage)

Nice walking/cycling path along the Oliemeersbeekje in the village centre of Massemen.

At the initiative of the commander of the House of Pitzemburg in Mechelen, a new parsonage was built on the village square of Massemen (Wetteren) in 1771-1772. Typologically, the building is a representative example of a rural parsonage from the second half of the 18th century. However, the interior acquired an exceptionally rich and distinguished character. Despite the conversion into a town hall in 1965-1966, many authentic elements were preserved. (Flickr)

The church has a fairly monumental sandstone west tower with four unequal sections under a constricted octagonal spire crowned by a cross with a weather vane. Tower corners marked by cut buttresses; at the height of the cuts the tower sections are lined with continuous water mouldings. Plinth finished with a profile moulding. Tudor arched portal under water moulding. Higher second section opened by a spacious pointed arch three-light with late Gothic tracery with fish bladders. Anchored blind third section. Low fourth section provided on all sides with coupled pointed arch sound holes, on the east side partly behind the clock face. (Inventory of Immovable Heritage)