Pajottenland

The Pajottenland (in English occasionally Payottenland) is a part of the Flemish Brabant province west of the Brussels Capital Region. The Pajottenland is predominantly farmland, with occasional gently rolling hills, and lies mostly between the rivers Dender and Zenne / Senne. The area has historically provided food and drink for the citizens of Brussels, especially Lambic beers, which are only produced here and in the Zenne valley where Brussels is.

Geography

This map of the Flemish Brabant municipalities depicts those of the Pajottenland in red, those that some definitions include in pink, and additional municipalities that also form the Pajottenland and Zenne Valley tourist area in yellow.

The Pajottenland is generally understood to cover the following municipalities and deelgemeenten:

• Affligem
• Asse
• Bever
• Dilbeek: Dilbeek, Itterbeek (with Sint-Anna-Pede), Schepdaal (with Sint-Gertrudis-Pede), Sint-Martens-Bodegem, Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle, Groot-Bijgaarden
• Galmaarden: Galmaarden, Tollembeek, Vollezele
• Gooik: Gooik (with Strijland), Kester, Leerbeek, Oetingen
• Herne: Herne (with Kokejane), Herfelingen, Sint-Pieters-Kapelle
• Lennik: Gaasbeek, Sint-Kwintens-Lennik (with Eizeringen), Sint-Martens-Lennik
• Liedekerke
• Pepingen: Pepingen, Beert, Bellingen, Bogaarden, Elingen, Heikruis
• Roosdaal: Pamel (with Ledeberg), Borchtlombeek, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek, Strijtem, Kattem
• Sint-Pieters-Leeuw: Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Oudenaken, Ruisbroek, Sint-Laureins-Berchem, Vlezenbeek
• Ternat: Ternat, Sint-Katherina-Lombeek, Wambeek

According to a lawyer named De Gronckel who first described it, the Pajottenland also includes Liedekerke and the Ninove deelgemeenten Neigem and Lieferinge. The rural part of Anderlecht, particularly in earlier times before it became a municipality of the Brussels region, may also be included.

The tourist area marketed under the name Pajottenland en Zennevallei (Pajottenland and Zenne Valley) also includes the municipalities Beersel, Drogenbos, Halle, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, which are clustered around the Zenne Valley to the south-west of the main Pajottenland region.

See also

• Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium

References

• Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Joris Pattyn, Lambicland, ISBN 0-9547789-0-1

External links

• The Pajottenland, official Pajottenland & Zennevallei tourist site
• The Pajottenland