Provincial Domain Nieuwenhoven, provincial forest domain in Sint-Truiden, Belgium

Provincial Domain Nieuwenhoven is a broad public forest and nature area near Sint-Truiden that spreads over old woodland, ponds and open meadows. Walking through it, you follow sandy paths between tall trees, pass a fishing pond and find play spaces tucked close to a small café.

The land was once part of an abbey estate, and from the 10th to the 18th century the local abbots used the castle here as a summer retreat. Because the woods were never cleared for farming, this old park forest has kept much of its original character.

Around the visitor center built on stilts, families gather near the educational pond while school groups take part in nature programs inside. Nearby, the brasserie ’t Kelshof gives the place a casual rhythm, where walkers stop for a drink after following one of the marked loops.

Five waymarked loops start at the visitor centre and run from 1 km to 7.5 km; the longest also passes Kortenbos and the castle. Paths cross loess soil with some height differences, though the highest point stays under 60 metres. A sunken hollow way runs alongside the wood.

The forest was long known as the Galgenbos, the gallows wood, a name it carried while the castle's noble owners kept it as an estate and so spared it from clearing. In 1972 the province bought the 161 hectares to stop a planned housing development, and it is now the largest continuous public forest in Haspengouw.