The 17th-century Chateau Diepensteyn was renovated to its original state and is now used as a place for receptions by the Palm Brasserie.
We have restored the original structure and the plan of the site while combining, for instance, the new function of the stud for Belgian horses.
A path for horses visually invokes the fortifications with a composition of hedges and mass shrubberies of hornbeam, holly, and lilac.
A shallow ford and a footbridge for pedestrians can be found. The canal at the boundary of the estate which had been filled in over time is now visually suggested by the planting of Daffodil.
At the back of the château, we installed a pleasure garden which reconciles the history of the garden with its present functions. It is composed of grass paths between hedges with mass plantings of holly, lilac, rose, hazel and high blocks of clipped hornbeam.
Some oaks and ash trees serve to accentuate the relationship with the landscape. At the center of the garden a circular space can be found with ten Nyssa sylvatica.
Steenhuffel, Belgium
2004
8.5 ha