Vieux château d'Aineffe

Belgium, Belgium

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The Vieux château d’Aineffe is an 18th‑century manor house in the village of Aineffe, part of the municipality of Faimes in the province of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, known locally as the “old” château on the Aineffe estate in contrast to the neighbouring Château d’Otreppe.

It stands within a walled domain together with the Château d’Otreppe and a private chestnut avenue (the “drève des châtaigniers”), a 125‑metre long, tree‑lined private path leading from the Chapel of Saint‑Pompée to the château, which was planted in 1778 with 15 chestnut trees on each side and is now over 200 years old, with some trunks reaching up to 6 metres in circumference.

The Vieux château d’Aineffe is a private property that has passed from the families of Thiribu to the Grimont d’Aineffe, then to the Haneffe family, and is currently occupied by the Baron and Baroness Guy d’Otreppe de Bouvette, and while it is listed as a historic building since 1983, it is not generally open to the public as a museum or tourist site.

The whole estate, including the chestnut avenue and the two châteaux, forms a high‑quality architectural grouping of the Hesbaye countryside, and the avenue itself is classified as a protected heritage site in its own right, enhancing the Vieux château d’Aineffe as a quiet, well‑preserved example of a rural 18th‑century manor house in a historic landscape.