Kasteel Van Poeke

Aalter, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel van Poeke is a celebrated castle near the village of Poeke, a part of Aalter in East Flanders, Belgium, set in a 56‑hectare wooded park roughly halfway between Ghent and Bruges.

First mentioned in the 12th century, the site originally held a medieval stronghold that was destroyed in 1453 by troops of the Burgundian duke Philip the Good; in the 18th century the noble family de Preudhomme d’Hailly built a new, classical residence on the ruins, using about 300,000 bricks, and in the 19th century Baron Victor Pycke de Peteghem transformed it into a more romantic, rococo‑influenced castle with its distinctive light‑pink façades.

The castle, surrounded by water and accessible by bridges at front and rear, later served as a boarding school for orphans and children in difficult family situations and as a holiday play centre, before the municipality of Aalter bought it in 1977 and used it for cultural events and celebrations. Since September 2021 the castle and its park have been owned by Toerisme Vlaanderen, which manages the site as a historical and cultural landmark.