The 10 hectares (nearly 25 acres) of Bois-le-Comte’s land and gardens are managed organically and according to permaculture principles. Part of it is Natura 2000, protected nature reserve.

There is an inner courtyard with a lawn and fireplace (for groups), vegetable and herbal gardens, a pond, a young orchard with forest garden, a reed bed (for wastewater treatment), terraces with mixed flower and herb borders, natural meadow and pastures for the horses.

The “perma hill” was the practical project of our first permaculture design course (2011 - 2012): a steep hill invaded by grass and stinging nettles was transformed into a tiny forest garden where fruit trees, berries, currants, herbs, flowers, perennial vegetables, bee and butterfly plants merrily live together.

Camping is only possible for volunteers and course participants.

Pretty, useful, yummy nasturtiums are among our favourite flowers. Indian runner ducks are also pretty and useful (they love eating slugs). Maybe they are yummy too but we don’t eat them. Aren’t they cute?

Dry Summers: a disaster for the lawn and the pastures. The reed bed and the broom do better, and fortunately we are surrounded by woods, which are good at capturing moisture.

But look how green the grass is now! Early Spring or good old times when Summers were Belgian?

Because we love good food, we want to have lots of vegetables (and herbs, nuts, berries and other fruits) fresh from our land. That’s why we have large vegetable gardens with a large polytunnel, 3000 m2 all together.

90% of our grounds are pasture. Our horses keep the grass short. Their large winter pasture is a meadow, it is hayed once a year. There is a labyrinth in the summer pasture and a sweat lodge area in the winter pasture.

Open garden days

normally first weekend of June but not this year (corona)