'A ticket to the Château Royal d'Ardenne please'. - Sorry, you are 100 years too late.

26/10/2021

Until 1919, the 'Château Royal d'Ardenne' stop in Houyet, now called the 'gare royale' (royal station) or the 'halte royale' (royal stop), was the private arrival point for royalty and other personalities from all over the world who came to the prestigious luxury hotel of the same name, built in 1874 by Alphonse Balat on the instructions of King Leopold II. Little remains of the royal estate, except for this old station.

Just south of the centre of the village of Houyet, in the province of Namur, a square crenellated limestone tower stands lost along the River Lesse, among the green of the Ardennes. Around it, a 200-metre winding path rises towards the wood. It continues on a road full of hairpin bends that leads to the final destination at the top of the hill where the Château royal d'Ardenne once stood. Only the passing of a train on the nearby Dinant-Bertrix line disturbs the silence from time to time. It is such a contrast to Thursday 23 June 1898, when the first train stopped on the now broken platform. The steam trains entered the station, the luggage of the distinguished guests was unloaded with great bustle and noise, and the guests themselves boarded a carriage for a joyous stay in the hotel. The Château royal D’Ardenne, luxury at an altitude of 150 m.

 

The hotel suffered a great deal from the vicissitudes of war, economic malaise, neglect and especially a devastating fire in 1968. Nothing remains of it. The disused Halte Royale D'Ardenne, on the other hand, defies time.