What's on in the Gaume in early September 2026? Our favourite outings in southern Belgium

The Gaume in its Indian-summer light

Early September has a light of its own here in the Gaume: lower, warmer, it stretches the shadows across the orchards and lends the yellow stone of the villages a glow you would swear was borrowed from Provence. It may well be the loveliest season to wander this corner of Belgium — the August crowds have gone, the terraces breathe again, and the local calendar shows no sign of slowing. Here is what we would go and see this week.

Wednesday 3: the memory of skilled hands

In Montquintin, one of the Gaume's finest hilltop villages, La Grange hosts a talk on willow growing and weaving techniques. A quiet, almost confidential gathering that explains how a simple willow becomes a basket, a living fence or a piece of plant architecture. The kind of evening that changes the way you look at the hedgerows afterwards.

4 to 6 September: the South, the street and the music of the world

Three moods, three invitations:

• Le Village Provençal — a genuine market from the South of France on tour, with its craftspeople, producers, accents and regional dishes. Olives, soaps and nougat: an escape you can carry home in a basket.
• Ans'Art Day Festival — street theatre and music in a warmly family-friendly format, where children end up laughing in the front row. Our choice if you are travelling as a tribe.
• Indian Summer Fest — a small festival of live concerts running from West African to Turkish sounds, rounded off with DJ sets and workshops. Curious and generous programming.

From 5 September: Virton becomes an open-air gallery

And then comes the artistic highlight of the Gaume's early autumn: Cuest'Art, with 37 artists taking over 25 venues around town — exhibitions, performances, theatre, workshops and a pop-up bar at the Galerie du Cheval Blanc. Allow a long morning of walking, notebook in pocket.

And when the evening cool rises from the meadows, it is good to have somewhere to come home to: our houses in the Gaume gladly keep a seat by the fire for curious travellers.