The best cycling routes in Domein De Hees

History The chapel was erected in 1626. At that time, the region was plagued by a pest epidemic. Legend has it that about 60 inhabitants of Oostmalle fled the village with the disease to the heath at Zalfen. Adriaan Mattheeusen, an inhabitant of Zalfen, who lost some of his children to the epidemic, was obliged to bury them in the heath and erected a chapel in their memory. Soon, the chapel served for funeral services, and the dead were buried in the adjacent cemetery. The chapel soon became an attraction for pilgrims. For this reason, it was enlarged in 1726 to its current appearance (see upper part in the side gable dated by means of sintered stone). The chapel is depicted on Ferraris' cabinet map (1770-1778) on a triangular plot of heath. A loop of tall trees surrounds the chapel. On Vandermaelen's map (1846-1854), the chapel is located south of the Salphen road, amidst a triangular forest plot. Description The Sint-Antonius chapel of Salphen is located south of the Salphen road, an old avenue of predominantly tall English oaks (Quercus robur), and is surrounded by tall trees (mainly Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris). It is an oriented brick chapel with a three-sided closed west facade and a lower rectangular choir under slate gable roofs (ridge parallel to the street) with a bell tower. On the east side, there are two tuit-gables on shoulder pieces with crenellations. On the north side, there are rectangular windows and a basket-arch door and a basket-arch door. The plastered and painted interior has a wooden frame with a tie beam. The furniture includes an altar from the 19th century and a painted wooden statue of Saint Anthony Abbot (late 15th or early 16th century).

Beautiful avenue with a cycle and walking path; the avenue leads towards the abbey.

Beautiful walking and cycling path through an avenue.

The St. Anthony's Chapel is a chapel in the hamlet of Zalfen, located near Salphen, which is part of the Antwerp municipality of Malle. Nearby Oostmalle was hit by a plague epidemic around 1625. Around 60 sick people reportedly fled to the heath. A certain Adriaan Mattheeusen, who lost three children to the disease, had to bury them on the heath and built a chapel for this purpose. This chapel was soon also used for funeral services, and the deceased were buried in a nearby cemetery. The chapel attracted pilgrims and was therefore expanded in 1726. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Antoniuskapel_(Zalfen)

History The original chapel probably dates from the Crusades and became increasingly important from the mid-13th century onwards. During the destruction of Brecht in 1584, the church was spared and served as a shelter for the local population from 1589 onwards. Sint-Lenaarts only became an independent parish from the mother church in Brecht in 1842. Gothic church belonging to the Kempen school, built on the orders of Count Antoine de Lalaing and Elisabeth van Culembourg; west tower from 1436-57 built under the direction of Nicolaas Van Haseldonk and Jan Stampert, spire destroyed in 1713; nave, transept, and choir from circa 1530-50. Extensive restoration work on the church (1875-79) designed by Eugeen Gife, including the reconstruction of the south portal (1877); restoration work on the tower (1886-87) designed by Louis Gife. The tower facade was restored in 1934-35 to a design by Jan Sel. Severely damaged during the Second World War, restored in 1946-53. Description Oriented three-aisled cruciform basilica with a square west tower, a five-bay nave, three-bay transept arms with a chapel to the east against the south arm, and a three-bay choir with a three-sided closure. Brick and sandstone church on a sandstone plinth with cut buttresses, sandstone cornerstones and quoins, continuous cordons and scaffolding openings; gable and lean-to roofs (slate) with a ridge turret at the intersection. A tall, segmented west tower with superimposed buttresses and a polygonal south stair tower, a small spire (slate) and corner turrets. A profiled basket-arched doorway, above which are niches with statues of St. Michael, Our Lady, and St. Lenaart (by F. De Vriendt after 1885), and a Gothic three-light window, entirely set in a continuous frame with a pear-bead molding on a plinth. Higher up, registers with Gothic-decorated blind niches and sound holes. The cornice and pointed gables are marked by buttresses that extend into sandstone pinnacles with pediments in the transept arms and choir. The southern transept arm has a chapel of St. Leonard on the east side. Pointed-arched three-light windows in profiled frames, and the transept and choir have tall, richly decorated pointed-arch windows. The southern aisle has a portal in the fourth bay, dating from 1877, designed by Eugeen Gife. A basket-arched doorway in a profiled frame is flanked by pilasters with finials, and is entirely crowned by a balustrade with Gothic tracery.

Quiet abbey (not open to the public) situated in the greenery and amidst the meadows, along a fairly busy road.

The Scherpenbergmolen is a stone corn windmill, a mountain mill type, located on the northwest side of Antwerpsesteenweg (no. 378), on the corner of Tichelmanstraat. The name Scherpenbergmolen comes from the toponym Scherpenberg, while the vernacular referred to it as the "Stone Mill" (Stone Mill), because there was also a wooden mill in Westmalle. The mill was erected in 1843 by the brothers Joannes and Petrus Mullenbrück (Meulenbroeck) on their parents' property in the area of "De Jaentjes." The mill's construction site was designated as follows: "more than half an hour outside the customs line, 70 meters from the main Antwerp-Turnhout road and 45 meters from the local road Tichelmanstraat." Joannes and Petrus Mullenbrück were the sons of Christianus Mullenbrück, originally from Westphalia, Germany, who settled in the municipality of Westmalle in 1808 as a lime distiller. Joannes became a miller there, and his brother Petrus moved to Ossendrecht, the Netherlands, to also pursue the miller's trade.

Beautiful Beguinage in Hoogstraaten, museum and landscaped vegetable garden very interesting.