An important year in which the largest restoration campaign ever was launched for its protected 18th-century grape greenhouse, gardens and interiors. Thanks to their love for Ename and their family residence, previous generations were able to preserve this history.
Today it is our responsibility to safeguard this remarkable heritage, restore it to its former glory and continue to share it with everyone who cherishes history and its beauty.
An important year in which the largest restoration campaign ever was launched for its protected 18th-century grape greenhouse, gardens and interiors. Thanks to their love for Ename and their family residence, previous generations were able to preserve this history. Today it is our responsibility to safeguard this remarkable heritage, restore it to its former glory and continue to share it with everyone who appreciates history and its beauty.
Five years of passion and ambition
The Vzw Huis Beaucarne was founded in 2017 by the youngest generation, Julien Fornari and his then fiancée Lena Vastesaeger, with the aim of restoring, conserving and sharing Huis Beaucarne so that its future may be safeguarded and many generations to come can continue to discover what lies behind these discreet doors. Since then, the house, garden and historic grape greenhouse can be visited daily, alongside other activities such as music concerts, lectures, special events and the Tea House, which opens on the historic courtyard during the weekends in the summer months.
Milestones
In addition to the restoration of the rock gardens in 2018 and other urgent repair works, a first necessary step was taken in 2019 by starting the restoration of the entire roof and timber structure of the residence in order to prevent further water damage. One year later, in 2020, the Vzw Huis Beaucarne was recognised as a charity (with a project account managed by the King Baudouin Foundation). In 2021 Huis Beaucarne also received the Open Heritage label, committing itself to further open the estate and make it accessible to the public daily over the coming 24 years. Because of these efforts, the association was awarded several prizes in recent years, including the Hans Vredeman de Vries Prize for historic gardens (2020) and the Heritage Award of the Province of East Flanders (2021).
One of the greatest milestones was the approval of our restoration project within the framework of the post-COVID recovery programme by Tourism Flanders and Heritage Flanders. After a thorough selection procedure among many submissions, our project was selected together with five other important projects to launch the largest restoration campaign ever, supported by a subsidy of 70%. This made it possible to begin the works in 2023.
