Terra non benedicta - Neblagoslovennaya zemlya

The surrounding country includes some of the richest farmland in Belgium. The local château has housed the same family since the 13^th century, well-known in the high life of Belgium.

The local village has no less than four large farms, in typical Walloon style, with barns, stables and farmhouse around an inner courtyard. 

Yet my immediate impression as I walked though the village of Warnant-Dreye last Sunday afternoon, was of something wrong. It’s difficult to explain: it’s as if there are parts of the country which are blessed, other unblessed. Places which holy people have lived in and sanctified, where people have prayed. And places where they have been too occupied with other things, like making money, to do so.

Warnant-Dreye looks to be in the second category. The village church, rebuilt at the high point of Catholic piety and local wealth before World War I, is unused and deserted. Wire mesh has been placed to protect the stained glass against stones. 

And in no cemetery in Belgium have I seen such a phalanx of large family vaults, in daunting grey stone, proclaiming the sullen pride of slow-accumulated wealth. A joyless place….