Podge’s Belgian Beer Tours

Castles & Beer - Mons in May 2025

Wednesday 14 May to Sunday 18 May 2025

Can Spring get any better than going on a Tour of Belgian Beer & Castles in Wallonia? We are delighted to announce this Tour based in the beautiful city of Mons, at the fabulous central four star Martin's Dream Hotel, a former church. There are heaps of great bars on and off the lovely Grand Place with its famous Guard Room Monkey. Make sure you pat him on the head, as British Tommies did here in 1914. Just have a look at Podge's Mons Bar Guide for up to date intel on the best spots for a beer.

This Tour will centre on beers and locations to do with all things castle-y, or kasteels in Dutch and chateaux in French. The Tour will, as usual, include visits to castles, breweries, beer restaurants, brilliant cafes and quirky visits, all chosen by Siobhan. Join us.

Orval grows on trees in Chelmsford

We are based in Chelmsford in Essex and we use a UK hired coach to travel. We try to use Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) from Folkestone to get to and from Belgium, but if not available we go by ferry from Dover to Calais. Most of our Travellers join the Tour at our main pick up point outside The Woolpack Pub, 23 Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN and most come from other parts of the UK, and some from further afield, especially USA. Lots of our Travellers stay the night before a Tour (and often the night of our return) at Chelmsford Travelodge only a few minutes walk from The Woolpack or at the Premier Inn near the Railway Station, about a 10 minute walk to the pick up point at The Woolpack. We all usually pop in to The Woolpack the night before departure for a meet, greet and a few beers with Siobhan who is your Tour Manager, Tour Guide and drinking pal for the duration.

Our Galloways luxury coach (49 seater coach with toilet) starts from Suffolk and on the way to Folkestone (or Dover if we go by ferry) and picks up at several points, as agreed with Siobhan, as below:

Ipswich, Bus Stop, Tesco Store, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

Colchester, McDonald's, Tollgate West, Stanway, Colchester C03 8RG.

Chelmsford, The Woolpack, 23 Mildmay Road, CM2 0DN.

Dartford, BP Garage (formerly Esso) 474 Princes Road, DA1 1YT. On the return leg we drop off at Dartford Railway Station DA1 1DR.

Swanley, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, BR8 8DE.

Ashford, pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opposite Premier Inn, Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

Folkestone, Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

This Tour is now arranged and the detailed, timed itinerary is set out below. This Tour is almost sold out, so if you would like to join us please send Siobhan an email or call on +44 (0) 7722 724 558 for details on how to secure a place. The deposit for this Tour is £190 per person. The Tour price is at the foot of this page.

Day 1 – Wednesday 14 May

05.00hr Coach departs from Galloways coach depot at Denters Hill, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5RR.

06.15hr Coach pick up The Woolpack, Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN.

07.00hr Coach pick up at Howdens, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 8DE.

08.00hr Coach pick up at Pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

08.30hr Arrive Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) Folkestone.

10.50hr Departure of Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) Train crossing from Folkestone.

12.00hr Arrive/Disembark Calais.

13.30hr Arrive at our first stop of the Tour at LKKRS beer café and restaurant in Zedelgem, West Flanders. This is a town centre café with 70 beers on the card, and food too, so we’ll stop here for a meal and a beer to slake our great thirst. Siobhan has long wanted to see something very old and very special in the local church across the road, and will take interested parties with her, while the others finish their beers.

15.00hr Leave LKKRS in Zedelgem.

15.15hr Arrive at our first castle visit of the Tour which is Loppem Castle in Loppem, south of Bruges. This is a beautiful red brick structure, and like many buildings in Belgium with the name ‘castle’ is more of a grand residence than a fortified defensive structure and is what we would call in U.K. a stately home. This one is complete with turrets, which is to be fair, very castle-y. Built 1858–1863, this preserved neo-Gothic castle also has an English garden and park with an important maze made from hornbeam. Their website says “You can get hopelessly lost in it.” So a no-go after lunchtime beers then! This edifice is unusual because it is in its original architectural and fully furnished state, jam-packed with works of art, stained glass and statuary. The property was built for Baron Charles van Caloen and his family, to designs by English architect E.W. Pugin (importantly, a catholic, as they were) and Belgian, Jean-Baptiste Bethune. Architecturally, Loppem castle is considered a masterpiece of Gothic Revival. The property is still owned by the family, who created a foundation in the 1950s to preserve the castle and its contents. We will have a fully guided tour* to see its attractions. I’ll be looking out for the beautiful wooden statue of a kneeling angel, apparently holding two Brussels waffles.

17.15hr Leave Loppem Kasteel in Loppem.

19.00hr Arrive at Martin’s Dream Hotel**** in Mons. This gorgeous four star hotel was a former neo-Gothic church, now run by brewery firm Martin’s which was founded in 1908 when Brit John Martin settled in Antwerp and acquired the licence to import Guinness into Belgium. The hotel has a bar, restaurant and spa and is our base for the next four nights. It’s in a fantastic position close to the long city square - the Grand Place – which is liberally sprinkled with cafes and restaurants. The evening is free for you to explore this beautiful city armed with a copy of Podge’s Mons Bar Guide* and accompanying map*. The hotel is a four minute walk to one of the best bars in town, La Pompe Benoit.

Podge's Belgian Beer Tour Travellers in their natural habitat, on a Brewery Tour

Day 2 – Thursday 15 May

10.00hr Following a buffet breakfast* we head off by coach.

11.45hr Arrive at the grand Corroy Le-Château Castle in Gembloux, on the way to Namur. This is the most important and complete surviving example of 13th-century architecture in the Low Countries, where it served as a vast residence and military fortress for the local territorial princes. Amazingly the Lords of Corroy have succeeded each other here since 1095 and this remarkable continuity makes Corroy one of the seven grand houses in Belgium which have been passed down by inheritance for nearly a millennium. Its medieval occupiers used the ground floors as servants quarters, kitchens, bakery, kennels and stables. The posh folks lived on the upper floors. In 1740 the Count of Corroy undertook substantial work on the fortress, which eventually drained his resources but made it a 'pleasure residence'. Around the building were created superb French gardens, with boxwood hedges, flowerbeds and a maze. Corroy Castle is a lowland castle surrounded by moats and fed by springs. It is sandstone with dolomite window frames and most of what we see today was built in 1268. It comes complete with turrets and a gatehouse over a moat, which in my opinion, is uber castle-y. We will have a guided tour* of the medieval architecture of the fortress, an inside visit including the large neo-Gothic vestibule of 1863, the 13th century Notre-Dame chapel and lots of other great rooms including, apparently, a "magic wardrobe." Can't wait to see that!

13.30hr Leave Corroy Castle in Gembloux.

14.15hr Arrive at the historic city of Binche for a lunch stop. This is a strange and attractive little city and armed with Podge’s Binche Bar Guide, we can have a wander around the Grand Place where there are many bars and restaurants. There are no less than three cafes on the square with over 100 beers on the card! Might fit in a snack too.

Binche was a fortified city from the 1100s and it served as a frontier fortress against France. In the 1300s the city wall was extended to its present size, and plenty of it still can be seen. Binche reached the peak of its economic power under Spanish rule because Emperor Charles V sister built a beautiful palace and lived here. The Industrial Revolution brought renewed prosperity with coal mines, brickyards, tanneries, glaziers, breweries, lime kilns, and soap factories. Thousands of people worked at home as lace makers, cobblers and tailors. However it is for the annual three-day Carnival of Binche which is what marks this place on the map. It dates back to the 1300s and takes place at Shrove Tuesday in February. Everybody in the city dresses up but the centrepiece are the performers known as Gilles who wear elaborate costumes in the national colours of red, black and yellow and wooden shoes. They wear white wax masks and number up to 1,000. They can be between 3 to 60 years old and the honour of being a Gille at carnival is aspired to by local men. From dawn on the morning of the carnival's final day on the main square the Gilles dance to the sound of drums and ward off evil spirits with sticks. Later they don huge hats adorned with white ostrich feathers and march through the town with baskets of oranges which they throw at the crowds. Some residents protect their windows against frequent damage to glass. The oranges are considered good luck because they are a gift from the Gilles and it is an insult to throw them back. In 2003 the Binche carnival was recognized by UNESCO as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. By the way, the English word binge apparently comes from this very city and its connotations with raucous carnival celebrations.

16.30hr Leave the little city of Binche.

17.00hr On the drive back to Mons, we will make a stop at beer cafe La Ruchette (The Beehive) in the village of Viesville just north of Charleroi. This is a large red brick building on the village square dating from 1845, with an out front beer-drinking terrace. It is a traditional café which offers a fantastic 200 beer choices and is apparently ranked as one of the top 50 Belgian brasseries or cafes. The Beehive are a La Trappe Gouverneur and have been awarded Orval Ambassadeur by Orval Brewery, so it is no surprise that they have around 40 Trappist beers on their card. They also do a nice line in portions of Trappist cheese to go with your beer, if you fancy.

18.00hr ish Leave La Ruchette in Viesville.

18.45hr Arrive back at Martin’s Dream Hotel in Mons.

Oh Belgian beer cafes, why do you look so inviting!

Day 3 – Friday 16 May

10.00hr Following a buffet breakfast* we head off by coach.

10.15hr We arrive at our beer warehouse stop of the Tour which is newcomer the Drink Factory on the eastern outskirts of the city of Mons. This is a beer shop where we can stock up on our favourite beers to take home and they have hundreds of choices (they claim they have 1,000 sorts of beer!) as well as giftpacks and other merch including local honey. They have a little bar area with seats. And beer.

11.15hr Leave the Drink Factory in Mons.

12.00hr Arrive at the beautiful Château fort d'Ecaussinnes-Lalaing in Ecaussinnes. We have a walk uphill from the coach parking area to the castle. This is an imposing medieval fortress, built on top of the older 1184 castle built by Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut. The lords of Ecaussinnes and their heirs the de Lalaings have altered the structure several times over the centuries. This is a rare example of an elevated medieval fortress in the flat province of Hainaut. It is made of local grey stone on top of a rocky promontory and possesses no less than seven towers. It has been the property of great families over the centuries, including the Princes of Chimay. Today it is inhabited by Count Robert d'Ursel. We will have a guided tour* of that part of the castle which is open to the public - the so-called "museum" section. The ground floor makes up the medieval part of the castle. It has an armoury, a jail, as well as a kitchen and a bedroom with 15th-century furniture. The drawbridge was converted into a Gothic chapel in the 1400s. We’ll also visit the first floor which focuses on the 17th century.

13.50hr Leave Château fort d'Ecaussinnes-Lalaing in Ecaussinnes.

14.30hr Arrive at the lovely Verwenkaffee Kasteelzicht in Dilbeek. The name of the café ‘Kasteelzicht’ means Castle View. This is a café restaurant with an outside front terrace overlooking the beautiful Viron Castle. The castle today is the rebuilt version from 1871, bizarrely constructed with a calendar theme and has 365 windows, 52 rooms, 12 towers and 7 staircases. The tower on the moated island reached by an iron bridge is called the St Alena Tower, and legend has it that she was imprisoned there. After the German occupation during WW1, the municipality bought the castle and park in 1923. From then on it served as Dilbeek's town hall. Next to the castle you’ll find a subterranean icehouse for the old castle, which today is inhabited by bats. We’ll have a meal here (not the icehouse) and a crack at their beer list of 45 choices which includes lots of Trappist & Abbey beers plus lambics from Boon and Girardin.

16.00hr Leave Verwenkaffee Kasteelzicht in Dilbeek.

16.45hr Arrive at the city of Enghien (French) also called Edingen (Dutch) and is on the language border. Mostly because Siobhan has never been here and because the city has a huge beautiful historic park gardens right in the centre. These were created by the dukes of Arenberg in the 17th and 18th century around their castle home and were designed by a Capuchin monk. The French King Louis XIV visited these gardens in 1671 and it is said he found inspiration for his gardens at Versailles. The current chateau was built in the 1900s and the local municipality acquired it and the gardens in 1986, and opened them to the public. We are here to visit two great beer cafes nearby. We will park in the city centre and the group can visit these two crackers within a short walking distance:

• Antre Temps, Place Pierre Delannoy 42. There are 80+ beers in this town centre café with Bertinchamps Tripel on draught – very unusual. Very much a drinkers bar with the metal brewery signs all-round the bar and a knowledgeable patron. Many newer beers on the menu.

• La Halte du Miroir, Parc d'Enghien, Avenue Elisabeth. This mansard roofed beauty is within the park grounds, it is called ‘The Mirror Stop’ because it looks out onto the lake. Try an Enghien beer on offer here, from nearby Silly Brewery, one of their 30 or so offerings.

18.45hr Leave the city of Enghien.

19.30hr Arrive back at Martin’s Dream Hotel in Mons.

Rochefort Beer Bottles.

Day 4 – Saturday 17 May

10.00hr Following a buffet breakfast* in our hotel we head off by coach.

10.30hr Arrive at the beautiful Château de Belœil in the village of Belœil in the province of Hainaut. It is magnificent and is known as “The Belgian Versailles”. The castle is the main residence of the Princes of Ligne, one of the top noble families in Belgium. They’ve owned it since 1394 and amazingly the family have lived here continuously since the 1400s. The current head of the princely House of Ligne is the 14th Prince Michel Charles Eugène Marie Lamoral de Ligne, who is 73 and who lives at the castle. We are having a guided tour* of the bits he doesn’t live in. The original medieval castle was a fortified rectangle, with a moat and four round towers, one at each corner. This basic structure is still there but the facades and especially the interiors were greatly altered in the following centuries to make it into a luxurious residence in the French château-style, which it still is. The lovely park gardens were created from 1664 onward, and are Baroque, with straight pathways, geometric lakes and grand vistas. The separate garden ‘rooms’ divided by high hedges were kept despite changing fashions in the 1700s favouring English landscape gardens. The grounds are huge, over 25 hectares and maintained faithfully to the original 1664 design. Every spring the Princes de Ligne open the doors of their home, decorated with 6,000 amaryllis grown by the Dutch house Berbée Amaryllis and hold the annual Amaryllis competition. We’ll have some time to explore these gardens*. The princes also sheltered many Jewish children here during WW2.

11:00hr Commence our guided tour of the château.

13.00hr We go for lunch at a grand stone building within the castle moated area called Le Relais du Maréchal. It is a restaurant and they seat groups in Le Chapelle, ‘the chapel', with its red brick vaulted ceilings and stone columns, it is very grand indeed. They have a list of regional beers too, so we can slake our great thirst.

15.30hr Free time to have a self-guided walk in the park grounds or a little post-prandial rest.

16.30hr Leave Beloeil Castle in Beloeil.

16.45hr Arrive at the Tap Room Taverne Diôle and Brasserie/Brewery des Carrières in Basècles. Carrières means quarries, as the brewery in in an area of disused marble quarries. Here they produce the Diole beer range all housed in a former sawmill belonging to one of the founder’s grandfather. Two friends Julien & François began here in 2012, a brewing engineer and an agricultural engineer who were passionate about local products and who come from this village. The barley and hops are grown locally. The name of the beers, Diôle, comes from an old village term for a stonemasons marble-polishing tool, operated by pulling something which resembled a devil’s tail. This place is a lovely light space with the brewery visible on the ground floor, and a glass panel in the floor to see the cellar. There is an upper mezzanine floor and a big outside sun terrace. They do six beers on draft and the same in bottles. They are Blonde, Ambree, Tripel, Rosee, Bio and Hoppy Diôle. Food looks great – dessert anyone?

18.00hr Leave Brewery & Tap Room Taverne Diôle in Basècles.

18.30hr Last stop of the day is another brewery tap! On the way back to Mons we call in at the brewery tap of the Borinage Brewery (The Borinage is equivalent to the Black Country in English, associated with coal mining). The bar is called the Boribar, in the old coal mining town of Boussu. It’s a big warehouse bar brewery started in 2024 by half a dozen fellas passionate about their local Borinage area. They have fun beer-can shaped beer glasses. They brew interesting craft beer with a core, plus specials and you might want to try Fat Grisou, an 11%abv Imperial Stout or, their most famous product, Urine beer, a 7%abv IPA made with real urine. Mmm…

19.30hr Leave the Borinage Boribar Brewery Tap in Boussu.

19.50hr Arrive back at Martin’s Dream Hotel in Mons.

The beautiful pair, Westmalle Dubbel & Tripel.

Day 4 – Sunday 18 May

10.00hr After breakfast* check out of Martin’s Dream hotel.

11.15hr Arrive at Café de Living, Menen in West Flanders. Beautiful three-storey art nouveau building with a great beer list. We’ll have a comfort break and a beer at this pretty place with a veranda.

12.30hr Leave Café de Living in Menen.

13.00hr Arrive at the beautiful Kasteeltje (The Little Castle) Restaurant in Rumbeke (Roeselare) for a nice rest, a meal and a beer or two. You can see the lovely Rumbeke Castle from the restaurant, which is bit like the Disney castle, but in red brick, very turrety and of course, this one is a real.

15.30hr Leave last stop.

17.00hr Arrive Calais Le Shuttle (Eurostar) Terminal.

18.20hr Leave Calais on Le Shuttle (Eurostar) train.

18.00hr Arrive Folkestone Le Shuttle (Eurostar) Terminal.

18.20hr Coach drop off Pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

19.10hr Coach drop at Howdens, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 8DE.

19.25hr Coach drop off Dartford Rail Station, Kent, DA1 1DR.

20.15hr Coach drop off Junction Lady Lane & Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0EA.

20.30hr Coach drop off Travelodge Hotel, 128-136 Parkway, Chelmsford CM2 7GY.

20.45hr Coach drop Premier Inn Victoria Road, Chelmsford CM1 1NY.

22.15hr Coach drop off Galloways coach depot at Denters Hill, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5RR.

Tour Price is £1025 per person sharing a double or twin room.

Single Supplement: £330 if you would like a room of your own.

The deposit payable to secure a place on this Tour is £190 per person.

Send Siobhan an email to find out how to pay the deposit.

Included in the cost of this Tour are:

Hotel accommodation and breakfasts;

Hotel city taxes;

Luxury coach travel on a 49 seater coach with toilet;

All brewery visits, tours and brewery beer tastings;

Entrance fees to attractions, museums and historical sites;

All items marked with an asterisk above and on the individual detailed tour itinerary when issued;

Copies of Podge’s City Bar Guides and Maps for the town where we stay or spend some time;

Still and sparkling water on the coach;

Pick up from one of our agreed joining points on the way to Folkestone or even on the other side of the channel.

Courier Services from Siobhan McGinn, your Tour Guide.

Travellers are responsible for the costs of all food and drink apart from items marked with an asterisk on the detailed itinerary plus all passport and insurance costs.

All itinerary times are local and approximate.

Personal insurance is not included in the Tour price but is required to be taken out by Travellers on Podge's Belgian Beer Tours, as is carrying the free UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) which is the 2021 replacement for the old EHIC. You can still use your EHIC card so long as it is in date, then you need to apply for the GHIC replacement online.

All Tours are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

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