Summary

The Brabantse Kouters area is the green belt north-west of Brussels, Belgium, which until recently had little or no infrastructure for hiking and related tourism. Regional stakeholders, including local authorities, farmers and nature conservationists, worked together to develop an online tool and to set up on-site infrastructure, e.g. signposting to nearby farm shops. 

Results

Prepared an inventory of 1 100 km of paths and roads.

Marked 480 km of trails in the western part of the region. An additional 300 km were included in the online tool. This resulted in a total of 780 km of trails, making it the largest network of hiking trails in Flanders.

Recruited more than 20 farms to join the hiking network.

Improved the hiking area’s infrastructure by setting up 26 trail starting points with information boards and 10 wooden features that highlight species specific to the area. 

Constructed 14 playgrounds with small-scale wooden or natural materials.

Following the project’s implementation, the number of hikers using the trails has tripled.