De Campagne Castle

Ghent, Belgium, Belgium

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De Campagne Castle, more properly called Kasteel De Campagne or Landgoed De Campagne, is an 17th‑century country castle and estate located in Drongen, a former village and now part of the city of Ghent in East Flanders, Belgium.

Its central building dates from the early 17th century and in the 18th century was known as “Kasteel Haemelinck,” a pleasure house with farm buildings belonging to a wealthy Ghent banking family. In 1765 the property was sold to the Hamelinck family, who gave it the name “De Campagne” and laid out a pond in the shape of an “h” for their surname.

After a violent incident in 1815, the estate was sold again and in 1852 became the country residence of the Jesuits from the Old Abbey of Drongen, who used it as a rural retreat and educational site. The municipality of Drongen bought the complex in 1972, and after Drongen merged into Ghent in 1977, the castle and its 4.4‑hectare park were opened to the public and repurposed as a cultural and socio‑educational centre.

The park is laid out in the English landscape style with a natural appearance and environmentally managed vegetation, while the castle itself hosts exhibitions, meetings, and activities for local associations, and the former farm buildings now house an educational children’s farm that is mainly accessible during events. Today De Campagne is thus not a medieval fortress but a historic estate and cultural hub on the outskirts of Ghent, valued both for its architecture and for its park as a public green space.