The best dog-friendly hikes and walks around Grote Geule

Experienced the same thing 😧

Part of Groot Saeftinghe Smaekt, Grenspark Groot Saeftinghe, Bike Tour: Cycle and Enjoy on June 28, 2026 https://saeftinghesmaekt.eu

I was a little too late for the tulip bloom. In mid-May, only a few flowers were still open. So, the tip for this highlight: if you want to see the field at its best, walk past this point sometime in mid-April.

Access gate to the Sint-Jacobsgat, a pond that got its name from the saint on whose feast day the dikes once broke here. The nature reserve is freely accessible. The gates connect to the wheelchair path. As nature associations and authorities often do, horses and cattle were also used here. These are usually 'tough' breeds. However, here use is made of cattle and horses from local farmers. This restores a situation from earlier times, when large grazers maintained a varied semi-open landscape through their grazing behaviour. Extensive grazing creates all sorts of variations in plant growth, which is beneficial for the diversity of fauna and flora. source: information board on site

Het Natuur.huis Panneweel is located on an old farmyard. It is a starting point for hikes or bike tours in the area and a centre for nature and environmental education and nature management. In front of Het Natuur.huis Panneweel, there are two picnic tables. We make these permanently available to any passer-by who wishes to enjoy the quiet atmosphere for a moment. Behind the nature house, Natuurpunt Waasland-Noord in collaboration with VELT vzw has planted a high-stemmed orchard with about 60 old and new fruit varieties (apple, pear, plum, cherry, quince). A beekeeper has beehives in the bee hall. A small-scale water purification system with reeds and marsh plants behind the barn cleans the wastewater from the nature house and the dwelling again. Salamanders live in the pool with purified water, a beautiful proof of good water quality. source: natuurpunt.be

The creek area of Saleghem is more than the sum of its parts. The nature reserve consists of the Grote Saleghemgeul on one side, and the Sint-Jakobsgat and the Kieldrechtse Watergang on the other. This triumvirate of water creeks then flows into the Grote Geule in Kieldrecht. Each separately is beautiful, yes. But together they are magical. The succession of gently sloping banks, grassland and hay, rare birds and colourful flowers, rustling reeds and melancholic willows: it silences a person. It inspires awe for the magic of nature. And everyone can enjoy it – even wheelchair users, because there is a special wheelchair walk around the creek lakes. This is what waasland.be writes... and there is nothing to contradict it.

Near the west end of the Saeleghemkreek you will find IJshoeve De Boey, which is open from April (until ...? 'end of the season') from Tuesday to Sunday, daily from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. The ice cream is made with fresh Jersey milk from the polders of Sint-Gillis-Waas. Good to know: you can also buy pots of De Boey ice cream at the Sint-Niklaas station (in a vending machine in the corridor to the left before the doors to the platform hall).

From mid-December 2020 to the end of March 2021, 30 volunteers, led by Pomona food forest coordinator Stéphanie De Caluwé, planted 150 saplings and meters-long hedges on our 6000m2 field in Meerdonk: including pear trees, hazel trees, nut trees, sweet chestnuts, and berry bushes. The food forest is freely accessible from sunrise to sunset. Push the gate open and take a look, sit down for a while and enjoy. source: www.pomonapuurnatuur.be/voedselbos