Lavaux-Sainte-Anne Castle

Lavaux-Sainte-Anne began as a fifteenth-century fortress on the flat Famenne, a square block with three heavy round towers and a moat, and was softened in the seventeenth century into a residence with mullioned windows and a courtyard, so the exterior reads as fortress and the inner face as house. It now holds three museums under one roof: a hunting and nature collection, a museum of rural life in the Famenne with reconstructed interiors and tools, and the castle rooms themselves. Behind the castle a wetland reserve has been created out of the surrounding fields, with ponds, reed beds and hides, grazed by Konik horses and Highland cattle, and it holds a good range of birds. The combination is unusual and the two halves work together.

What you actually see

• Three round towers in a moat - the fifteenth-century fortress front.
• A museum of Famenne rural life - reconstructed interiors and tools.
• The wetland reserve behind - ponds, hides and grazing animals.
• The seventeenth-century courtyard - the residential face inside the walls.

When to go

April to October for the reserve at its best; the castle is open year round with reduced winter hours. Two to three hours for both. Spring and autumn for birds. Weekends are busy with families.

Honest expectations

The museums are aimed partly at school groups. Interpretation is in French with limited English. The reserve is small and the hides are basic. Winter opening is reduced. Public transport is poor.

Nearby

Rochefort and its cave are east; Han-sur-Lesse lies north-east.