Saturday morning in Meerle moves at its own pace. The bakery on the village square opens early, the smell of fresh bread drifting down Heimeulenstraat before most of the street has stirred. You slide open the large garden doors off the kitchen, coffee in hand, and the lawn is still wet from the night. Six bedrooms. Four bathrooms. A kitchen island big enough for a proper family breakfast. This is the kind of house that earns its keep every single weekend.
Meerle sits at the northern tip of the Kempen region in the Belgian province of Antwerp, tucked right against the Dutch border and surrounded by the flat, forested landscape that defines this quiet corner of Flanders. It belongs administratively to Hoogstraten, a market town about ten minutes' drive south where the Gothic Sint-Katharinakerk dominates a square lined with café terraces. The area draws people who want countryside without isolation — Breda is 25 kilometres north, Antwerp under an hour south on the E19. Eindhoven airport and Brussels Airport both sit within comfortable driving range, which matters enormously for international buyers treating this as a second home in Belgium or a base for extended stays.
The house itself stands on Heimeulenstraat in a low-traffic residential street. Originally built in 1980, it has been comprehensively renovated — not the kind of cosmetic refresh that hides problems behind fresh paint, but a genuine overhaul that touches the electrical installation, glazing, energy systems, and finishes throughout. The EPC label B rating is the honest proof of that. The heating runs on a gas HR++ system with high-efficiency glazing across the entire house, which keeps running costs sensible even through the grey Belgian winters.
Inside, 324 square metres gives the house a scale that is increasingly rare at this price point. The ground floor opens through a proper entrance hall — storage under the stairs, a guest toilet, good proportions — before reaching the main living and kitchen area at the back. The space is anchored by a recently laid herringbone PVC floor, a pattern that gives the room warmth without the maintenance anxiety of real wood. Large sliding doors fill the rear wall, pulling in afternoon light and opening directly onto the terrace. In summer that boundary between inside and outside almost disappears.
The kitchen is built around a central island. Induction cooktop with integrated extraction, a full set of Siemens-level built-in appliances: dishwasher, fridge-freezer, oven, combination microwave, double sink with a brushed-black faucet. It is set up for people who actually cook, not for a glossy catalogue shoot that gets dismantled after the photographs. Through the kitchen, a door connects directly to the internal garage — approximately 25.5 square metres, space for two cars plus bikes, garden equipment, or the kind of overflow storage that a proper family holiday house always needs.
Two bedrooms sit on the ground floor. One faces the front garden, bright and quiet. The second opens through to its own bathroom — walk-in shower, modern vanity — which makes it genuinely self-contained. Useful for grandparents, for a teenager who demands independence, or for the occasional guest who prefers a bit of separation from the rest of the house.
Upstairs, four more bedrooms spread across the landing. The master at the rear is the one that earns the headlines: a proper ensuite dressing room feeding into a fully renovated bathroom with a freestanding bathtub, double vanity with vessel sinks, walk-in shower, and a separate toilet. It is a room you don't rush through in the morning. The second rear bedroom has its own shower niche. The third bedroom accesses a bathroom with a full shower. The fourth is versatile — a child's room this year, a study next year, a proper guest room the year after that. With six bedrooms and four bathrooms serving the whole house, the morning routine never becomes a queue.
Outside, the garden wraps around the property on a 693-square-metre plot. The lawn is large enough for a proper game of football and still have room left over for a dining table under a parasol. The terrace adjoins the house directly — the kind of proportions that justify buying an outdoor sofa. Mature boundary planting means you're not looking into your neighbours' windows during Sunday lunch.
The Kempen region rewards people who spend time in it. The Kalmthoutse Heide nature reserve is a half-hour drive, a protected heathland that turns purple-pink in August and draws walkers and cyclists from both sides of the border. The Lage Vuursche forest and the Biesbosch wetlands are reachable for a day trip into the Netherlands. Closer to home, the cycling infrastructure around Hoogstraten is exceptional — this is Flanders, and the cycling culture is not a marketing claim, it is a daily reality. The Groene Gordel route connects villages across the region on dedicated paths.
Food in this corner of Belgium punches well above its profile. Hoogstraten is famous across Belgium for its greenhouse strawberries — the Hoogstraatse aardbeien have a reputation that locals defend fiercely, and from May onwards the farm shops and markets overflow with them. Nearby Merksplas and Rijkevorsel have traditional brown cafés where a cold Trappist from Westmalle — brewed just down the road — costs less than you'd expect and tastes better than it has any right to. For something more composed, the restaurants around Turnhout and Antwerp are within easy reach for a proper evening out.
For international buyers, Belgium's property ownership framework is relatively straightforward for EU and non-EU nationals alike. There are no restrictions on foreign ownership of residential property. Notary fees and registration taxes apply at purchase and are worth factoring in, but Belgian property law is stable and well-documented. The Flemish region has its own tax rules distinct from Wallonia, and a local notary in Hoogstraten will walk you through the specifics cleanly. Rental income from a Belgian holiday property is taxable in Belgium, though favourable flat-rate expense deductions apply — worth a conversation with a Belgian fiscal advisor before completion.
As a vacation home in Belgium, this property makes a particular kind of sense. It is large enough to host multiple families at once, close enough to two countries' worth of airports to fill weekends without long haul travel, and set in a region that gets less attention — and less crowded — than the Ardennes or the Belgian coast. The renovation is done. Nothing is waiting for you except the decision.
Key features at a glance:
- 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms across 324 square metres of living space
- Fully renovated to current standards, EPC label B energy efficiency
- Herringbone PVC flooring throughout the ground-floor living areas
- Designer kitchen with central island and full suite of built-in appliances
- Master suite with ensuite dressing room, freestanding bath, and walk-in shower
- Two self-contained ground-floor bedrooms with direct bathroom access
- Internal garage for two cars with additional storage (approx. 25.5 m²)
- Large wraparound garden with private terrace on a 693 m² plot
- Gas HR++ central heating and high-efficiency double glazing throughout
- Compliant electrical installation, asbestos-safe certification
- Quiet residential street in Meerle village, Hoogstraten municipality
- 25 km from Breda, under 60 km from Antwerp city centre
- Close to cycling routes, Kalmthoutse Heide, and the Dutch border
- Private on-site parking in addition to the internal garage
- Move-in ready — no renovation budget required
If you're looking for a second home in Belgium with genuine family scale, a finished interior, and a location that rewards both active weekends and slow ones, this house on Heimeulenstraat deserves a visit in person. Reach out through Homestra to arrange a viewing — properties of this size and condition in the Hoogstraten area move without much warning.
