Ouden Doel hiking route

The hamlet of Prosper - or Prosperdorp - has barely 200 inhabitants and is split in two by the land border. Prior to 1846, this was an area of salt marshes and mud flats on the banks of the Scheldt River. Commissioned by the 7th Duke Prosper Lodewijk of Arenberg, the land was reclaimed and the Prosper polder was formed. Around 1870, four large homesteads were from where the polders were reclaimed. On the Dutch side, the Hertogin Hedwige polder was created in 1904, named after Hedwige de Ligne, wife of Prosper Lodewijk's grandson. Around 1910, the population grew, and construction started on the neo-Gothic Sint-Engelbertus Church. The church can be seen from far and wide and was given a central role in the tragicomic television series "Den Elfde van den Elfde" and the film "Matterhorn" by Dutch director Diederik Ebbinge.

We follow the ring dike along the site of the Hedwige-Prosper project that is in full development. This is where everything is being prepared to house the mudflats and salt marshes of the new tidal area. The area within the dike, covering 465 hectares, will be de-poldered and connects the Paardenschor at Ouden Doel with the Verdronken Land (submerged land) van Saeftinghe. This will create a unique tidal area of more than 4,000 hectares.

The PolderMAS houses a colourful collection of fossils, etchings, old maps, paintings and photographs documenting life on the left bank of the Lower Scheldt. The owners regularly organise cultural activities, including lectures, photo presentations and concerts. Otherwise, the museum is open only on Sundays from 2 p.m to 6 p.m.

Want to find out more about the history of Prosper polder? Then take a detour past the Prosperhoeve, one of the four large homesteads built by Prosper Lodewijk.. The site consisted of three granaries, a residence (now gone) where the Duke and his family could also stay, some stables, a carriage house and later a windmill and a dairy. At the end of the 19th century, the Prosperhoeve was split among different tenants and the estate fell apart. The manor farm with its mill is a protected monument and is being converted into a point of entry for the area. The rest of the site is recognised as a townscape.

Back in Prosper, the cozy bar of Den Angeluus, the last remaining café in the village, beckons. The building dates from 1912 and was renovated in 2010. Besides the locals, a lot of cyclists and hikers pass through here. Mandatory sampling here is the Prosper, a 7.5-percent blonde beer bottled especially for Prosperdorp by brewery De Cock in Sint-Pauwels.