Bois de la Cambre is the northernmost part of Soignes Forest. It remained an unmanned spot until the middle of the 19th Century, when under the direction of King Leopold many parks were created. The turn for this wood to become a park came in 1861, when the German architect Edouard Keilig took up the task of shaping it as an urban park. As a result the landscape of the Bois de la Cambre is in the 18th Century English style that imitates nature and is characterised by the irregularity of the arrangement of the plants and the alleys. This irregularity offers variable points of view. The Bois de la Cambre is a landscape park in forest likeness that owes its name to the Abbey of Cambers that can be found nearby in the same district. The Abbey was founded in 1196, as Benedictine one but any religious symbolisms have long since vanished and the buildings now house the Belgian National Geographical Institute as well as a visual arts school.

Perhaps the most attractive facility of Bois de la Cambre is Le Lac (The Lake) which is an artificial lake in a curious comma-like shape with a wonderful island in its centre. On the island called Robinson, there is a restaurant and five geyser fountains occasionally spewing up amazing columns of water. A ferry links the island with the main body of the park. The cycle-track is a perfect place for pros to practice and also for the amateurs. The hippodrome and the Theatre de Poche (built in 1966) are also worth a visit.

On the premises of Bois de la Cambre you can engage in a number of leisure activities such as skating, horseback riding, cycling, canoeing and fishing. On certain occasions, sporting events, concerts in the open air, animation theatres, and plays for children take place, especially in the summer. One of the fancy tennis clubs operates at the park but you have to make arrangements in advance because it fills up quickly. Another useful and pleasant amenity in the park is the cable-drawn ferry that takes passengers from the shore to the island on the middle of the lake. Apart from all those attractions the urban park Bois de la Cambre is an ideal spot for relaxation far from the bustle of the city, for playful family weekends with picnics and sports or just for everyday jogging. But most important of all it represents the living connection of man with nature and is the “green lung” of Brussels.