Full-timing family: Belgium
As autumn brings cooler days and longer nights, Karen Binedell and family are volunteering and touring in Belgium
As autumn turns the days cooler and the nights longer, Karen Binedell and her family are in Belgium to volunteer for work in stables and on farms – and enjoy some delicious Belgian dishes!
‘The children are putting fresh hay in the stables; we lay paving and build gates’
GOOD DAY FROM Belgium! Or as we say here, “Goededag!” Autumn is in full swing in this tiny country and mornings and evenings are becoming quite a lot cooler in the caravan.
We are three weeks into our stay here and despite the wet weather, are having the most amazing time.
Our first stop was a place called Mont à Lumay ( just five minutes from Hoegaarden, in Flanders), where we pitched up on the driveway of the Van der Broeck family.
Stress management
Our host, Geraldine, works as a transformational life coach, running workshops and retreats to help people create a healthier lifestyle and manage stress.
She uses her horses in therapy known as equicoaching, and during our stay, shared some of her knowledge with us and allowed us to participate in one of her workshops.
Our volunteer tasks included helping to care for the horses, chopping wood, building fences and setting up raised vegetable beds, using willow branches from the property.
During our free time, we explored the nearby towns of Hoegaarden, Bruges and Brussels, where Geraldine took us on guided tours.
We stopped off at all the popular tourist spots, as well as some hidden gems that the locals keep for themselves!
We also sampled traditional dishes, such as Stoofvlees (beef stew) and Stoemp (mashed potato with meat and veg), and made sure to get our fill of waffles, frites and chocolate.
Right now we have our legs down at our second stop, in Heist-op-den-berg, where we are volunteering at the home of Flor, Julie and baby Vink. The family have four acres of land, eight horses and a pony.
Brunch with friends
The kids have been in charge of putting straw and hay in the stables, while Warren and I laid paving, built a gate, repaired guttering and moved perimeter fencing on one of the fields.
Yesterday we took a tram into Antwerp to meet up with two friends. We had brunch in a café, visited the Cathedral of Our Lady, played cards in a traditional pub and walked through St Anna’s Tunnel (under the Scheldt River) for an alternative view of the city.
Our next stop? The Belgian Ardennes and the Netherlands.