Ok so its not quite owned by Walt but damn this place is one fairytale looking castle!
Brief History
The castle was built in 1866 by the*English*architect*Milner under commission from the Liedekerke-Beaufort family, who had left their previous home,*Vêves Castle, during the*French Revolution.
Their descendants remained in occupation until*World War II, when it was taken over by the*National Railway Company of Belgium*(NMBS) as an orphanage. It remained a facility for the use of children until 1980.
It has stood empty since 1991. Although the municipality of Celles has offered to take it over, the family has refused, and the enormous building is now (as of 2011) in a derelict state.
Theres plenty more on this place in other reports and easily found on google search's so on with our visit...
Visited with Ryan, Christophe and some other cool belgian dude. Reccy the day before at dusk and we saw headlights coming from the castle, ducked to the floor as a 4x4 passed then headed back to the car before revisiting the following day to bag some shots. After a nice hike we arrived at the castle got a few externals and headed inside. We split up and I covered the basements first. Evidence of the most recent use of the building as a school was evident, several classrooms and lots of bathrooms were indications of the buildings more recent conversions from a private dwelling to public use. Upstairs the place is getting pretty wrecked inside. One wing has been badly damaged by fire and the other is suffering from the elements with floors and ceilings collapsed in alot of areas. There are still some amazing features both inside an out and I've had this place on my todo list for as long as I can remember so really enjoyed capturing it for myself.
While exiting we were ambushed by the land owner / grounds keeper packing a double barrelled shotgun. After lots of shouting in french and a warning shot from the shotgun we were beckoned down the hill before a second shot was fired over our heads. It was at this point we realised he wasnt shooting blanks as branches started to fall around us. Great end to a fantastic explore. Hope you like the shots (pun intended)
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Took loads more which I'll stick on my blog once I've managed to shift the web host servers to a more stable one
Brief History
The castle was built in 1866 by the*English*architect*Milner under commission from the Liedekerke-Beaufort family, who had left their previous home,*Vêves Castle, during the*French Revolution.
Their descendants remained in occupation until*World War II, when it was taken over by the*National Railway Company of Belgium*(NMBS) as an orphanage. It remained a facility for the use of children until 1980.
It has stood empty since 1991. Although the municipality of Celles has offered to take it over, the family has refused, and the enormous building is now (as of 2011) in a derelict state.
Theres plenty more on this place in other reports and easily found on google search's so on with our visit...
Visited with Ryan, Christophe and some other cool belgian dude. Reccy the day before at dusk and we saw headlights coming from the castle, ducked to the floor as a 4x4 passed then headed back to the car before revisiting the following day to bag some shots. After a nice hike we arrived at the castle got a few externals and headed inside. We split up and I covered the basements first. Evidence of the most recent use of the building as a school was evident, several classrooms and lots of bathrooms were indications of the buildings more recent conversions from a private dwelling to public use. Upstairs the place is getting pretty wrecked inside. One wing has been badly damaged by fire and the other is suffering from the elements with floors and ceilings collapsed in alot of areas. There are still some amazing features both inside an out and I've had this place on my todo list for as long as I can remember so really enjoyed capturing it for myself.
While exiting we were ambushed by the land owner / grounds keeper packing a double barrelled shotgun. After lots of shouting in french and a warning shot from the shotgun we were beckoned down the hill before a second shot was fired over our heads. It was at this point we realised he wasnt shooting blanks as branches started to fall around us. Great end to a fantastic explore. Hope you like the shots (pun intended)
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4.
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9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Took loads more which I'll stick on my blog once I've managed to shift the web host servers to a more stable one
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