Houtkerque Village Charmant

Houtkerque is a municipality of about 1000 inhabitants. With an average altitude of less than 20 m, it is one of the wettest municipalities in the Yser catchment area, because it is largely surrounded by waterways: the Yser forms the northern boundary with Bambecque, while the Ey Becque forms the border with the Belgian villages of Watou and Haringe. Thus, the area groups many ponds and wet meadows which make it a major ornithological site of the Region. The municipality, although belonging to the Houtland (country with wood), has finally preserved only few vestiges of its of its bocage aspect. Apart from the Bois de Saint-Acaire, a private property of 36 ha in the southwest of the territory, there are only residual and less extensive wooded areas. However, Houtkerque has kept its rural and agricultural identity! From this geographical situation with regard to the border, the village has cultivated the memory of the world of fraud and and smuggling. In spite of the abolition of customs controls, real traces of this past still remain today, whether controls, whether material (old customs barracks) or immaterial (characters and legends associated with this tumultuous life). The village has a lot to tell to the curious visitor, but also a lot to show, in particular in particular two heritage buildings protected as Historic Monuments, the church of Saint-Antoine and its and its remarkable 16th century Gothic tower, and the 18th century Hofland mill. Rich in animations, in history and in traditions, that makes so many reasons to come to discover this charming and peaceful village, which also knows how to prove its village, which also knows how to prove its taste for celebration when the carnival season approaches.