Borrekens Castle

Borrekens Castle, locally known as Kasteel de Borrekens, lies in the forest just northeast of the town of Vorselaar, in the province of Antwerp in the Flemish region in Belgium. It's also known as Vorselaer Castle.

Borrekens Castle was built around 1270 by a member of the Van Rotselaar family who were stewards of the Dukes of Brabant. They built this square water castle in a swampy area, close to the road Antwerp-Turnhout which was probably a part of the trade route to Cologne in Germany. It is built out of white Vilvoorde sandstone.

The castle stayed in the hands of the Van Rotselaar family until the beginning of the 16th century. Ownership then transferred to a Cornelis van Bergen and later to the Arensberg and Proost families.

During the 17th century the castle was rebuilt by the Proost family. This caused financial difficulties for this family, so they sold the castle to Phillipe Lodewijk de Pret, ex-mayor of Antwerp.

His daughter married Karel-Philips van de Werve. His family rebuilt the castle in the second half of the 19th century and gave it its present neo-Gothic appearance.

In 1898 the De Borrekens family became owner of the castle through marriage. They gave their name to the castle and still own it. I don't know if they actually live there.

The castle farm on the bailey dates back to 1686 but was rebuilt after a fire in 1920.

Borrekens Castle is private property, so it can't be visited. You can however walk through the forest following the moat.

I think this is a nice fairy tale castle. Too bad it can't be visited. It's also a pity that the banks of the moat are so fully grown over that you can't get some good open views of the castle. Which is why I returned in winter 2018 to make the last 2 pictures.

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