Château de Leeuwergem hosts seminars, meetings, congresses, team building days, staff parties, product presentations and networking evenings, with meeting space for up to 70 people inside the château and up to 300 in the orangery and pavilion. The estate is in Elene, part of Zottegem in East Flanders, about 20 minutes from Ghent and 40 minutes from Brussels. It has welcomed events since 1998, and requests for private and professional hire go to the owners, Baron and Baroness Baudouin della Faille d'Huysse.
Seminars and company events
For a board meeting or a seminar of up to 70, the château itself offers its period reception rooms: the Grand Salon with its chinoiserie decor, the dining room with its tapestry decor and the entrance hall. The estate says these rooms can be arranged to suit the program. Larger groups move to the orangery and the adjoining pavilion, which together take up to 300 people for a plenary session, a product launch or a company party. The former coach house, newly converted, is a bright meeting room overlooking the main courtyard for 5 to 40 people. Team building programs can be adapted to the brief and the budget and can use the château, the orangery, the pavilion, the coach house and the park, which covers about 20 hectares of grass and water with room for outdoor, sports and leisure activities. A congress is among the events past clients mention.
Weddings and receptions
The château is not taking weddings at present, according to its contact page. Private parties and receptions remain possible, and the 18th-century green theatre, laid out in clipped greenery, suits performances and receptions in the open air.
Rooms and capacities
The orangery is a bright, open hall with views of the château and the gardens, and its floor can be set up freely. The pavilion connects to it, has wood paneling and looks over the moats toward the château. The coach house is the smallest room and was still being finished when the site was last updated. Outside, the lawn known as the plain of the sphinxes, on the main axis of the park, can take event tents, with a view along the chain of ponds to the château. Capacities per layout are not published, so seating plans for theatre, classroom or banquet formats come from the owners.
Accommodation
The estate lists a bed and breakfast on its website but gives no room count, so groups should plan hotels in Zottegem or Ghent.
History and setting
The lords of Leeuwergem go back more than 1,000 years, and three successive châteaux have stood on the site. The present building, almost square and surrounded by water and flower beds, is a late 18th-century rococo house and counts among the best-known châteaux of East Flanders. Work on the park started in 1768 and took about fifteen years. Its long water mirror south of the château is lined with lime trees, and the best view of the house is from the far end of the pond. The estate is recognized as Belgian heritage and also opens to visitors.
Getting there
The château is at Kasteel Leeuwergem 1 in Zottegem; for satellite navigation the estate gives Kasteeldreef 1. Ghent is about 20 minutes away by road and Brussels about 40 minutes.
