Pumpkimania, Kasteel van Groot-Bijgaarden

Pumpkimania, Groot-Bijgaarden: a castle, a moat, and a forest of animals that somebody built by hand. Until 1 November.

A stag with a carved face. A squirrel you have to look up at. Ants with squash for bodies on the straw bales, and a woodsman with a long saw who turned out to be made of squash. Every one of them stands in the park of a castle in Dilbeek, ten minutes on foot from a railway station.

And this is not the only time the park gets rebuilt. In spring the same park hosts Floralia Brussels, the flower show, and in autumn @pumpkimania. One castle, two seasons, both built from nothing.

Pumpkimania 2026, until 1 November

Open Thursday to Sunday until 23 October, then every day to 1 November with the Halloween trail and evening hours (times on pumpkimania.be)
10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30

Adults 16 euro, children 5 to 14 9 euro, under 5 free, family pack (one adult and one child) 23 euro. Tickets online at tickets.grandbigard.be.

Leashed dogs welcome, pumpkin kitchen on site. On 1 November the giant pumpkins are cut open so the growers can keep the seeds.

The organisers promise a fox somewhere in that forest. It is not in any of our photographs. Did you find it?

Where Kasteel van Groot-Bijgaarden, Isidoor Van Beverenstraat 5, 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden (Dilbeek) · @pumpkimania