A few weeks ago Elisabeth spent a Saturday with the Girl Scouts for Camping Day. Despite the jet lag from his flight from Houston the previous day, Rich woke up bright and early. He drove Elisabeth and her friend, Madeleine, to De Kluis. They arrived by 8:00am on a Saturday morning. Elisabeth returned around 10:00pm that night with Madeleine's parents. What a long day!
The De Kluis Youth Residence is the oldest youth stay of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. In 1934 the Scouts & Guides Association of Flanders bought the old forester house "La Retraite" and enlarged the building into a foursquare Brabant farmhouse. The surrounding pastures and fallow grounds have been planted with a large variation of indigenous and exotic trees. This gives the Youth Residence De Brink its unique characteristics and an exceptional play forest.
De Kluis is situated nearby the largest mixed broad-leaved forest of Flanders: Meerdaal wood – Heverlee forest (1900 hectares). This is one of the last wooded locations in the Flanders since the last ice age. The nature reserve "de Doode Bemde" is 200 hectares large and lies 2 km away. This domain has magnificent nature surroundings and is situated in the middle of Belgium, just on the linguistic frontier.
De Kluis
http://www.hopper.be/jeugdverblijf/de-kluis
