Top 20 Natural Monuments around Hamme

Simply beautiful castle and forest

It is good to know where the center is in Flanders. Well, this is not the political center of Flanders, but the geographical center.

The wheel is privately owned, but you walk right past it (on the Victor De Witstraat). No one knows for sure how the Hingenewiel was formed. We know that the Spierenbroek flooded around 1552. After failed attempts to close the Spierenbroekgat, the other polders flooded in November 1554, because the pladderdijk broke. We suspect that this is how the Hingenewiel was formed. A pladderdijk is a cross dike that runs from the stream through the polder (so not along the river). This large wheel was originally even larger, probably the Ketelwiel used to be part of this wheel. In the middle of this wheel was an island with a tower on it. The Hingenewiel became smaller due to natural silting up. Kingfisher, grebe, coot, moorhen, gadwall and shelduck breed here, among other things. But you can also admire fire damselfly, ostrich fern and yellow water lily here. (Regional Landscape Schelde-Durme)

The geographical centre of Flanders was determined by students of the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Leuven. Using GPS measurements and with the help of mathematics teacher Prof. Theo Van der Waeteren, the centre was determined in 1999: it is located in the far corner of East Flanders, a few dozen metres from the previously determined "three-province point" (East Flanders, Antwerp and Flemish Brabant). Just a few metres from the territory of Sint-Amands, it is just in Opdorp, a sub-municipality of Buggenhout. The coordinates are: 51° 2′ 16″ N, 4° 14′ 26″ E. A monument was placed at this point in 2003.

The redevelopment of the duck decoy is part of the Berlare Broek-Donkmeer nature development project. This project fits in with the vision of the Berlare municipal council to give the popular Donkmeer and its surroundings a contemporary look. The site of the duck decoy was given a thorough makeover. It was redeveloped with respect for the most vulnerable zones and remains open to the public. (Public space database)

Today Komoot was asked to change the name of this Highlight to Hennenput.

Beautiful view of Hof te Melis. The winter months and spring offer the most beautiful views of the old Hof te Melis. Hof te Melis is a protected landscape due to its scientific, historical, and aesthetic value. It is a castle with a moat. The castle is built in the Neo-Renaissance style. A turbulent historical past... Before the First World War, the castle consisted of a forecourt, surrounded by outbuildings and with access to a courtyard. When the German army entered Lippelo in 1914, the domain was occupied by the invaders. It then came under fire from Fort Bornem. Hof te Melis partially burned down. It was rebuilt in 1920, deviating from the original floor plan. The outbuildings and gatehouse remain intact. At this location, you can thus glimpse a powerful past.

The small white building near the duck decoy, the cage house, was never a home, but the decoy man could warm himself by the fireplace, store his maintenance materials, temporarily store the captured ducks and possibly also spend the night in a sleeping alcove during a busy fishing period. This cage house burned down in 1995 and was rebuilt in 1997. On an old picture card, depicted on the information board against the wall of the house, published around 1913, we see the cage man Sander Goossens with his dog at the then cage house. The huge poplar near this cage house served as a beacon in the landscape: this way, flying ducks that had previously stayed here could recognize this place from afar. Source: information board on site