And then there were 5 _ Belgium

We are half way through with 3 months left. Next stop Belgium for a fortnight in a chateau. Essentially a family chateau has divided off a small portion of the house to rent out to people like us. Its on a 3 hectare plot, fully landscaped with dense crops of deciduous trees. It has history with WW2, as the Germans took over the Chateau and around 1000 troops camped on and in the property. We were showed a swash sticker scratched into our bedroom window sill by a soldier. Apparently there is more under the wallpaper. This is where the Battle of the Bulge was fought....the last German campaign of WW2.

 Our accomm is the 2 storey annexe on the right hand side

There are goslings, chooks and a baby lamb to feed (bottle) a horse and a dog. Our first week here is up and we have spent most days at home or not too far away just getting over the previous long drive.

This path is on the property....be,ow are a few chateaus that we have found close to home. These are not tourist attractions....people live in them ...the pic immediately below is about 3 km from us in a small town.  Its completely surrounded by flowing water and entry by drawbridge which is not uncommon from what we've seen. It dates from 1289  with cellars from the 9th century and framework of the 17the century. Obviously done some renovations over the years. After a while you realise these buildings are scattered everywhere. In fact there is 1 castle/chateau/25km square in our southern region of Wallonia!

Image above is our nearby bigger town called Dinant. It has a bloody history, both politically and during the wars. There's a citadel on the top of the rocky ridge which has been sieged and rebuilt over the years  which has been fought for on and off for the last 1000 years.The church is pretty spectacular too.