Middellandse Zeetuin Uilenbroek

altar Mathias Van de Velde (Atlas Obscura User)

In the province of Zeeland in the southwest of the Netherlands, in a quiet town in the middle of nowhere, there’s a peculiar little family-run botanical garden.

The garden is built on a historic piece of land, where you can still find an original piece of the medieval church of Saint Michael. The church was badly damaged in 1566 by the iconoclasm during the Dutch Reformation, and left totally in ruin after the Eighty Years’ War of 1572. At the place where the altar would have been, the artist built a grand “Plaza for St Michaël.”

The artist is Wim Uilenbroek, who wanted to create the atmosphere of a Mediterranean garden and used a lot of tropical plants and colorful tiles to shape his vision of a perfect garden.

Know Before You Go

Only officially open for four weekends a year (every last weekend of the month from May to August). The rest of the year the garden is only open for private groups, photographers, weddings, parties, ... The entrance is 5€/person including a coffee or tea Children under 12 have free admission

Guided tours available (9.5€/pp including coffee/tea)