The best road cycling routes around Hannut

Since 1965, the Oteppe castle and its surrounding estate (65 ha) have been run as a holiday centre ("L'Hirondelle") with a hotel, campsite, holiday chalets and bungalows, swimming pools, playground and fishing ponds; as a result, the village's population has almost doubled during the summer months.

great view, nice climb

dates from 1754

Today, the castle houses a 4-room gîte for 11 people. More info: https://www.letulipierdelempereur.be/

This estate was owned by the Fastré de la Neuville family, better known as Longchamps, in the mid-15th century. A first castle, the date of construction of which is unknown but of which some remains remain, remained in the Longchamps family until 1710 when Marie-Françoise de Longchamps, wife of Charles Jean-Baptiste de Fabritius, then bequeathed the property to her daughter Marie-Catherine Françoise de Fabritius. After she married Waltère de Sélys, the estate passed to the barons of Sélys-Longchamps 1 . The castle was built for Michel-Laurent de Sélys ( 1759 - 1837 ), who in 1795 , the year of the reunification of the principality of Liège with France , was president of the new municipal council of Liège and in 1800 mayor under the consulate . Michel Laurent de Sélys Longchamps was married to Marie Denise Gandolphe, born in Paris on 19 March 1777 and died at the Château de Longchamps under the Second Empire, on 28 October 1857. Marie Denise was the daughter of Mathieu Joseph Gandolphe and Denise Jacqueline d'Aran des Castans. Michel-Laurent de Sélys-Longchamps asked the Parisian architect Aimé Dubois for plans for a new castle. The project was entrusted to the Liège entrepreneur Duckers and the Parisian sculptor Mongin. The construction of the castle was completed in 1810. During the emperor's reign, magnificent parties were held there. Source: Wikipedia

19th century country house based on a former farm with dovecote.

A long time ago, almost 1000 years ago, there was a Romanesque chapel with a fairly wide tower, very characteristic of the type of elongated tower that we still see in Aineffe. In 1672, during the Franco-Dutch War, the chapel and the seventeen houses of the hamlet were destroyed by fire. The warlike fury had destroyed the building. In 1754, 82 years after the destruction, the chapel was rebuilt. Previously, bricks were used in the region, but here the stones of the old church were used for the foundations. Since 1980, the chapel has been the property of the municipality of Faimes, after it had bought it for the symbolic franc from Count Guy van den Steen de Jehay. In 1987, the municipality began the restoration of the chapel, with the help of the French Community, the Province of Liège and the King Baudouin Foundation, in collaboration with the National Lottery. In the nave, the six 'grisaille' paintings on wood were restored in the restoration studio of the National École des Arts Visuels de La Cambre, in collaboration with the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage. These six paintings represent Saint Lambert, Saint James, Saint Roch, Saint Hubert, Saint Denis and Saint Madelebert (patron saint of the parish of Celles). Unfortunately, the chapel is not freely accessible. Source: faimes.be

The church of Celles is probably the only church in Belgium dedicated to Saint Madelberta. To be honest: I had never heard of this saint before. Saint Madelberta was a Merovingian noblewoman who succeeded her deceased sister Aldetrudis as abbess of Maubeuge in 696. Madelberta was venerated quite soon after her death. It is not impossible that the convoy that brought her relics to Liège at the beginning of the 8th century stopped in Celles; after all, Celles was close to the Roman road that led from Bavay to Cologne. I was lucky enough to have a look inside the church. The friendly lady who let me in proudly pointed out the glass cabinet at the front right of the church; it contained relics of various saints (but not of Saint Madelberta?)