Country estate Vaeshartelt - Maastricht

This beautiful country estate is now a hotel, restaurant and event location, but its history goes back centuries. In the 10th century, Queen Gerberga was regent over the area of Hartelt, as it was called then. After she relinquished her administrative function in 968 and went to live in the monastery of Reims, she donated all her possessions - including the area of Hartelt - to the Abbey of Reims. This is the first written mention of Hartelt.

In the 14th century, Hartelt came into the hands of Servaes van Mulcken and since then the area has been called Hartelt van (Ser)Vaes or Vaeshartelt. In 1841, Petrus Dominicus Regout purchased the country house for King Willem II. After the latter's death, Regout takes over the country estate. A landscaped park is laid out to a design by the Belgian garden architect Jean Gindra. After Regout's death, however, the estate is rapidly becoming more and more austere, with many of its elements disappearing.

The main building, which dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries, was restored in 1994, and two contemporary wings with conference rooms and 84 hotel rooms were built on the foundations of the former buildings. In 2013, the so-called Bloemenheuf was added back to the estate. An experimental garden has been created here, where 200 standard fruit trees have been planted with as many as 80 different types of old fruit varieties, two kilometres of various types of slate and berry fruit and a vegetable garden. This garden also contains the Bee Pavilion, which came from the Floriade and has been given a second life at Vaeshartelt. This fits in with the philosophy of the estate, which is managed entirely organically and ecologically.