Our Monastery Trail Stage 8 Boekel – Aarle Rixtel

This walking route allows amblers to discover the area between Boekel and Aarle Rixtel. This route takes you from Huize Padua and museum De Kluis in Boekel to Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed in Aarle Rixtel.

(5 hour) 22.5 km

Starting point: from your location


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This walking route allows amblers to discover the area between Boekel and Aarle Rixtel. This route takes you from Huize Padua and museum De Kluis in Boekel to Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed in Aarle Rixtel. On the way you will pass various locations such as the former Capuchin monastery and the Farmers' Union Museum. This route is part of Our Monastery Trail, a trail in 15 stages. For a list of all stages, please visit this page.

Finding the way with numbered junctions
This walking route has been set out using the numbered junction network in Brabant. Simply follow the route via the signposted junctions, from one number to the next. There are also signposts between the junctions to help you find your way. The route can be walked in either direction.

Staying overnight
A number of monasteries along Our …

This walking route allows amblers to discover the area between Boekel and Aarle Rixtel. This route takes you from Huize Padua and museum De Kluis in Boekel to Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed in Aarle Rixtel. On the way you will pass various locations such as the former Capuchin monastery and the Farmers' Union Museum. This route is part of Our Monastery Trail, a trail in 15 stages. For a list of all stages, please visit this page.

Finding the way with numbered junctions
This walking route has been set out using the numbered junction network in Brabant. Simply follow the route via the signposted junctions, from one number to the next. There are also signposts between the junctions to help you find your way. The route can be walked in either direction.

Staying overnight
A number of monasteries along Our Monastery Trail have the option of staying the night. Always check in advance what is possible, some monasteries are only open on certain days. For all locations and up-to-date information, please visit brabantskloosterleven.nl (Dutch language).

There are many hospitable hotels, B&Bs, campsites and other locations where you can stay the night in the trail’s surroundings. You can find an accommodation from this list of places to stay in Brabant. First choose the type of accommodation and then enter the name of the town or village where you want to stay. You will then see a selection of addresses in the area.

Sights on this route

Starting point:

Kluisstraat 2
5427 EM Huize Padua
Navigate to starting point
Huize Padua / Museum de Kluis
81

Starting point:

Pater Petrusstraat 21
5423 SV Handel
Kapucijnenklooster
59
60

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Onze Lieve Vrouwestraat 63
5423 SJ Handel
Processiepark
56
79
80

Starting point:

Esdonk 15
5421 PZ Gemert
Esdonkse Kapelleke
50
26
51

The Gerlachus van den Elsen roadside chapel is part of the Boerenbond Museum (farmers’ union museum). This Farmers' Museum shows the region’s farm life from around 1900.

Starting point:

Karrenspoor
5421 ZA Gemert
Gerlachus van den Elsen roadside chapel

The Brabant guilds have strong ties with the Catholic faith, and many guilds in the De Peel region have their own chapel for their patron saint.

Starting point:

De Kampen 12
5421 XA Gemert
St George's Chapel
81

Nobleman Rutger van Gemert (c. 1150 - c. 1220) was a knight of the Teutonic Order, a military religious order with branches in Germany, Austria, Poland and the Baltic states.

Starting point:

Ridderplein 17
5421 CW Gemert
Gemert Monastery Castle
83
82
84
85
87

Starting point:

Kromstraat
Gemert
Het Hagelkruis
12
27
16
13
19
02
18

Among the fields northeast of Aarle-Rixtel lies Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed (holy blood).

Starting point:

Kloosterdreef 7
5735 SJ Aarle Rixtel
Navigate to endpoint
Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed

Story of the route

Starting point:

Kluisstraat 2
5427 EM Huize Padua
Navigate to starting point
Huize Padua / Museum de Kluis
  • Huize Padua and museum De Kluis
    Halfway through the 18th century a group of believers moved to Boekel. Their new home was called Huize Padua (house of Padua), popularly known as De Kluis (the safe). They taught Catholic children. They had to stop doing this in 1878, when the law stipulated that only people with a teaching qualification were allowed to teach. From then on the friars dedicated themselves to the care of the mentally ill. They were the first Dutch congregation to engage in psychiatry. With their activities in Boekel they laid the foundation for the current mental health care system in the east of Brabant. If you now walk past Huize Padua you will not see just a building, but a lively estate. The site is still in use for people with a mental disability. De Kluis now houses museum De Kluis.
  • Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed
    Among the fields northeast of Aarle-Rixtel lies Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed (holy blood). The Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood originated in South Africa at the end of the nineteenth century. The sisters’ most important task was to proclaim the Catholic faith around the world. To prepare the sisters for their arduous missionary work, a convent was founded in Kirchherten, Germany. In 1902 it moved to Brabant. The stone placed at the time of construction and bearing the date 1902-1903 is written in German because of that origin. The inhabitants of Aarle-Rixtel got to know the sisters especially through their work in the area. They worked as district nurses, cared for the elderly and gave music lessons.

Among the fields northeast of Aarle-Rixtel lies Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed (holy blood).

Starting point:

Kloosterdreef 7
5735 SJ Aarle Rixtel
Navigate to endpoint
Missionary Convent Heilig Bloed
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  • 56
  • 79
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  • 50
  • 26
  • 51
  • 81
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  • 87
  • 12
  • 27
  • 16
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  • 02
  • 18

Route features

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