Layout of The Villake
The main entry to the grounds is via a gravel driveway leading to the garage housing the limokes. The left side of the driveway is lined with grape vines, whilst the park slopes down to the right. Running up the slope on the west side is the col followed by the allotment. There is a pedestrian entrance at the north-west side. At the back of the building is the grove. Finally, along the east side runs the copse, with the greenhouse towards the north-east corner. It is possible to walk completely around the outside of the building, though it entails climbing a wall at the northeast corner, dividing the grove from the copse. Those agile enough to traverse the wall then find themselves tangled in the branches of a large shrub that is refusing to die. The grounds cover an area of around 1000 square metres and are bordered on the north and south by gardens, on the west by a small road, and on the east by cattle grazing grounds.
It is probably true to say that Belgium is one of the wetter countries of Europe, the rainy season starting in January and continuing through December. Being a Brit, I know only too well what it is to moan about the weather one minute and then to have to stick-up for it in front of wining tourists the next. I therefore have a certain amount of sympathy for the Belgians, for whom the climate is, at least on paper, much more miserable. As an example, the two extremes of the English weather can be illustrated by Plymouth and Manchester. Plymouth is characterized by mild but very wet winters and summers that are warm and dry (at least by English standards). Manchester on the other hand has much colder winters but not nearly so wet, whereas its summers are cooler and wetter. Brussels is a cocktail of the two, a Plymchester if you will, with cold wet winters followed by wet, though mercifully warm, summers. Click here to view some pretty little weather graphs for the last twelve months. Now take a tour of the grounds ... The
Entrance |
