We picked up Donna's Prncess in one of our favourite geocaching tours ‘De Hertog’ in ‘s’Hertogensheide’ (the Duke’s Heath). The cache is composed of 13 individual caches, each and every one developed in the most original way.
Donna's Prncess Luna in particular was hidden in the bonus cache, consisting of the grave of the duke, buried under a tree (I added a picture - a bit sinister).
The 13 caches are hidden in a heath landscape near the town of Aarschot. A heath is a scrubland habitat, most beautiful in August when it is blossoming.
Heaths are widespread worldwide but are fast disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe.
This particular heath (the Duke’s heath) lies an area that for centuries was owned by the Lords of Aarschot, who were given their noble title in 1532. The area had a common use and the people of Aarschot brought their cattle to graze on the heath.
From the 18th century onwards, 's-Hertogenheide was planted with coniferous wood, which drastically changed the character of the area.
In the 1970s, the importance of 's-Hertogenheide was recognised by policymakers and on 13 September 1978, the area was definitively protected as a landscape and since 2014, an integrated landscape and forest management plan has been worked on as well as the start of the heath restoration.
We'll try and take you further with us visiting some particular places in Belgium before setting you free again...