Restoration of the Castle of Veulen (www.veulen.be)

In the early part of 2001 the complete building has been examined. It was obvious that everything had to be restored intensively. The roof was leaking. It did not have the original slate roof and repairs were done in all kinds of materials. A part of the interior was even rotten. The outer walls were painted red (± 1910), but in the past those walls had been white. Therefore the walls were on occasion pink. The paint-work and pointing were very bad. Structurally the building was reasonable. Only the left tower and left side buildings were much worse. The old backery was partly damaged and even a building was completely collapsed.

Two ugly buildings were a blot in the inner court. They served as kitchen (1960) and wash house. A detached brewery, situated in front of the old bakery, was in a very bad state. After consultation with the authorities these buildings were demolished.

The barn and old stables were cleaned. The roofs and outer walls were restored. When possible old materials were used and as much as possible original material left. High pressure cleaning was used on the outer walls. Damaged stone bricks were replaced with good ones. All the pointing was grind down and pointed with material of the same composition as used in the past. The walls were treated against moisture. Rotten wood had been changed by new wood. The wood has been treated against woodworm. The roof has been renewed with new slates. The gutters, drainpipes and the roofing on the gallery were renewed with copper ones. The bridge and entrance gates were also restored. The inner court got new cobblestones with a new garden in the middle of it.

The interior of the main building and outer buildings have been fully restored. Even here, as much as possible original materials were left. On some places parts of the floor and panelling were renovated. The arabesque wall paper has been restored. In the gallery came a old slate floor. In the barn stone bricks were replaced, walls grinded down and pointing renewed.

The restoration was finished in the spring of 2009.


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