It cost a lot of money to restore the beautiful Croy castle in Aarle-Rixtel. Jan van Asten of the Hope Faith and Love Foundation, owner of the castle, does not want to say how much. “But we weren’t there yet with a million.” But now the castle with its new roof, windows, joints, floors and ceilings, is almost completely empty. There is no furniture to be seen in most rooms. “It needs to be revived.”
Croy is more than just a castle. There is also 220 hectares of estate surrounding it. The new lords or ladies of the castle get a beautiful view of an old landscape with farms and a sheepfold with Merino sheep. Not only the quiet castle could use some more life, the estate surrounding it also needs to be put more on the map. The return of the beer that was brewed at the castle as early as 1671 is part of this.
Brewer Rick Verhees did a lot of research into the history of Croy Castle for the beer. In the Middle Ages there was probably already a large farm on the site. The families who lived there managed to amass a lot of wealth over the centuries. The last resident, Mistress Constance, left a castle and estates in 1873. “The lady was a real power woman,” says Verhees. “She ran the entire castle and the estates around it.” He decided to put her image on the label of the beer bottle.
“Everything here is done in Constance’s name.”
The rebellious, but also compassionate power woman from Aarle-Rixtel did something that was not well received by the family. She left the castle to the poor. The income from the castle and the estates was to provide for the needy of the village. Single older men and women were also accommodated. It was only in the 1960s, after the introduction of the general assistance law, that the poor management was abolished and the current foundation was established. “But everything here is done in Constance’s name.”
Croy Castle still supports itself, with the rent from the land, by renting out spaces to companies, renting out rooms for, for example, days away from work or another event. And you can get married there. Some subsidy was received for the restoration, but that was at most 5 to 10 percent of the budget. “But we have lost our largest tenant,” says Jan van Asten.
“It was like Trump walked in.”
The result: the castle is 90 percent empty, with only 1 small business now in it. “We would prefer to have two companies,” says Van Asten. “One on each floor. A notary office, for example.” But the foundation takes into account that there will be more. “It would be inconvenient if there were ten companies, as it would appear to be a multi-tenant business building.” The foundation is busy with discussions with the broker.
Jan van Asten enthusiastically gives a tour of the castle. “Come and have a look at the place where the brand new heating system is located, it’s just like Pernis.” In short, everything has been done to make the castle as warm and comfortable as possible. The inside is very colorful. “You might think, all those colours,” says Jan van Asten. “But we had a historical color specialist do research. He scraped off all the layers of paint here to see what was underneath.”
And Croy Castle also has plenty of anecdotes. For example, King Louis Napoleon, the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, once came to visit. He gave the then 13-year-old Constance from the castle a comb, earrings and a necklace as a gift. “That was quite something,” says Jan van Asten, laughing. “It was like Trump walked in.”
