About the Cartierheide

Grenspark De Kempen is a true walking paradise, of wild heathland and vast forests. This route takes you to the beautiful Cartierheide.

Cartierheide
The Cartierheide is a wild heathland with many wet areas. The white water crowfoot blooms beautifully in the spring and on the heath you might come across the slow worm or the smooth snake - don't worry, they are not poisonous. Napoleon left his mark on the Cartierheide and the forests were the terrain of smugglers for centuries, who brought pungels with butter and cigarettes across the border in the dark.

Eight Beatitudes
You will also walk along the edge of Eersel, one of the Eight Beatitudes. Life was not always good in the Brabant countryside around Eersel. Dutch soldiers who were stationed here in 1830 thought it was a miserable place. They mockingly called the villages ending in -sel the selligheden, or Beatitudes. Nowadays it is certainly'blessed\\\' here: as you will notice back at your starting point, De Keizer eten & drinken!