The best walks and hikes around Boutersem

This church was built in 1843 according to the design of A. van Arenbergh. However, it is no longer used for worship services. The municipality is still looking for a new purpose.

The idea for a 'forest of hope' originated from a request by some residents. Although a municipality may have several cemeteries, burial parks, or birth forests, they do not always offer the necessary comfort that people seek. Comfort can also be found in symbols of life, symbols of growth, a memento, or a place where you can find hope. And where can you find more hope or powerful comfort than in a forest. A forest where the trees can symbolize (further) life, growth, comfort, 'never forgotten because always present'. (Municipality of Boutersem)

The summary parish archive does not contain the date of the institution of the procession around the Sterreborre chapel. But for time immemorial there have been the annual processions. Twice a year, according to ancient tradition, a procession circles the Butsel chapel. Four women carry the miraculous image of Mary three times around the chapel, followed by the pastor who carries the monstrance with a consecrated host, surrounded by men with torches, and then the other faithful follow. (Pastorale Zone Sjalom Boutersem)

In 2021, the municipality started planting a new forest in Sterrebornestraat, in collaboration with Bosgroep Vlaams-Brabant vzw. In addition to a beautiful forest expansion, this forest is primarily a social place. Come and relax in the beautiful wood sculpture or on the bench.

Behind Kwabeek Castle stands a huge, beautifully developed multi-stemmed plane tree. With a trunk circumference of approximately 10 meters, it is among the thickest trees in Flanders. The tree is believed to have been planted in 1810, but at that time, not one but five trees were planted in the same planting hole. This is called clustering, and it is a planting technique often used in park landscaping to quickly achieve the effect of thick trees. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Clustering of five plane trees at Kwabeek Castle, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/133263

After the gruesome murder of the last owner, Baroness Thérèse Ernst de Bunswyck, the municipality purchased part of the estate, including the castle, which now serves as Boutersem's town hall. Other lots went to different owners, so the heritage's unity is somewhat lost, with several buildings besides the castle itself. However, there's much more than meets the eye.

The castle's core dates back to 1718, was modified several times during the 19th century, and eclectically renovated after 1922; the castle and its outbuildings are surrounded by a 16.5-hectare park, originally a high courtyard with a watermill and mill pond; a classic 18th-century valley floor site, redeveloped in an early landscape style around 1830-1835; redeveloped around 1900 in a late landscape style; municipally owned since 1980; ice and vegetable cellars, numerous old trees. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Kwabeek Castle Estate, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/41588

After the gruesome murder of the last owner, Baroness Thérèse Ernst de Bunswyck, the municipality purchased part of the estate, including the castle, which now serves as Boutersem's town hall. Other lots went to different owners, so the heritage's unity is somewhat lost, with several buildings besides the castle itself. However, there's much more than meets the eye.