about pan

In our wildly underrated Zele, we discovered the dilapidated barn of the Scheldt on the dyke.

We converted it into our dream place, a home away from home; Pañ.

Stay in our B&B/holiday home, enjoy the good life in the bar and our resto and make your house a real ‘home away from home’ with sustainable interiors from our shop and flowers and plants from our house florist Viv. Then there is our ‘open space’ for all your customised small events. Close to all big cities and yet in the middle of our beautiful nature, with the Scheldt flowing by as a forecourt.

Pañ's plan? To offer you a little holiday just a stone's throw from your door, just some pampering, some time-out and recharge everyone's batteries ( we go eco, logical! ) and return home with a blissfully good feeling.

history

During the 19th century, the economic activity of zele dike revolved around unloading freight. The cargo was delivered via small sailing ships and consisted mainly of brick, lime, bear, coal and white sand. In the 1770s, there was no barn yet, only four pits in which bear was stored - a then very expensive fertiliser. Never thought the Heritage of ‘shitting money’ originated here. *proud*

Around 1800, a Mr De Smedt settled here to expand his business. In 1835, a new business was established, which traded in oil, coal and, of course: fertiliser! Thanks to the flourishing family business, the yard was extended with new storage areas and civilian houses. A detail from a drawn letterhead shows what it looked like then.

Pañ, which was then part of an identical twin, belly filled with coal and with a terrace full of shit in front, in two rows of uncovered cesspools. At the back was a pleasure garden with footpaths and countless plants (how wonderful it must have been!), to this day fragmented into back gardens and fields, and our car park. Also cool.

It is unclear when our twin barn was demolished. Little is also known about the condition and use of the remaining barn of the Scheldt during the first half of the 20th century.

It was not until 1968 that she reappeared in sources, when art circle Were Di organised an exhibition there on some old Zeelse professions. After this, it often hosted more large-scale local events, such as big parties (including the 1971 dyke festivities ), receptions and gatherings.

During the 1990s, it was hardly used anymore, but its historical and architectural value began to come through. Unfortunately, it remained empty and fell further and further into disrepair.

In 2018, the barn was in a very dilapidated state. To many, then, this was a pile of semi rotten wood groaning under the decay and the weight of an immense amount of tiles.

We saw a pearl heritage brimming with potential hidden under thick layers of ivy. And the die is cast, we bought the barn.

During the conversion, we preserved the structure and materials to the maximum. The roof structure was completely restored, including with recovered identical wood from other barns in Belgium.

The roof tiles were removed, sorted and treated piece by piece. The truss and tile battens were deliberately left visible, leaving the character of the old barn a visible element in the current interior.

Let's just say, ‘t has become a serious little project. Fairly out of control. Where to start was difficult, where it was going to end unthinkable.

Years of research, hard work, trial and error and a mountain of gold nuggets went down with it. Unfortunately, our poop was worth nothing the day before all the rest is the more!

A restored piece of history, a new family business in the broadest sense of the word and back a wonderful inspiring place to gather and enjoy.

Lucien

Viviane

Ilse

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