Sint-Andries: History and garden spaces

If you are looking for a hotel in Sint-Andries, you can choose what to focus on based on your interests: architectural and church history, the layout of an herb garden, or a walk from Tudor to Beisbroek. These themes offer different starting points for deciding what to make the focus of your trip.

Church history and historic estates

The early history of the parish church of Sint-Andries en Sint-Anna includes a small Romanesque church. Since the monks arrived in 1117, it has served as both a parish church and a monastery church. This dual function brings together the roles of the parish and the monastery in the church’s history. The parish church and its cemetery have been protected as both a monument and a protected town or village landscape since November 13, 2001.

Kasteeldomein Forreist also offers a historical perspective on how an estate was used. It remains protected as a monument to this day. Its development took it from a formerly fortified farmhouse surrounded by a moat to a residential estate occupied by the families of prominent 19th-century politicians. The story is therefore not just about a building, but also about the transition from a fortified farmstead to a residential estate.

The Neo-Gothic Tudor Castle was built in 1904. While Forreist can be understood through its development from a farmstead to a residential estate, Tudor has a clearly defined construction date and an explicitly Neo-Gothic style. Together, these buildings illustrate different ways of approaching history: the development of an estate on the one hand, and a specific architectural style and date on the other.

Herb garden and landscape

Four zones organize the Tudor Herb Garden: aromatic herbs, medicinal herbs, industrial plants, and dye plants. This classification directs attention to different plant groups and how each is categorized. Aromatic and medicinal herbs sit alongside plants for industrial uses and dyeing. The surrounding gardens, woods, and Tudor Herb Garden are public land owned by the City of Bruges.

Around Beisbroek Castle, centrally located and dating from the 19th century, woods, meadows, orchards, fields, and heathland alternate. This makes the landscape around Beisbroek a different focus from the Tudor Herb Garden: there, the four plant groups organize what you see, while at Beisbroek different landscape types alternate. If you enjoy taking in a variety of landscape features during your stay, this offers a different focus from the garden’s thematic layout.

Walk and planetarium

You can walk from Tudor to Beisbroek through the Chartreuzinnenbos, which covers more than 20 hectares. Beisbroek is a 98-hectare green area open to visitors for walks. These figures refer to different areas: the woods on the one hand and the green area on the other. If you are planning a specific walk, check access in advance.

A visit to Cozmix follows a different format from a walk. It includes a planetarium show, followed by a projection of the starry sky, a visit to the telescopes in the observation tower, and the Cozmix exhibition room. The individual presentations depend on the program. If you are planning a visit, check in advance which show is scheduled.

Discover more destinations: Dudzele, Sint-Michiels Brugge, Zeebrugge, Sint-Kruis, Assebroek, Lissewege.

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