Hotel Flora

Where else but Hotel Flora could you spend hours simply gazing at the ceiling? The idea came from artist Nils Verkaeren, who created a series of unframed works directly on the walls, building up a subtle mille-feuille of painted layers through which a restless natural world seems to emerge. “During the renovation, he called me from one of the rooms where he was working on a fireplace,” recalls owner Pieter Robert. “I found him in the bath, naked, with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette between his lips. He told me that you should be able to dream in the water.” Said and done. The artist went on to dress some of the ceilings with his paintings — and, in the process, dressed himself too. Pieter Robert, elegantly fitted out in the manner of a true aesthete, tells the story with a broad smile, still clearly surprised by it all. This was his first foray into hospitality, and it was during Covid that he invited renowned interior designer Gert Voorjans to bring three old, wonderfully wonky buildings back to life. Voorjans orchestrated an explosion of colour enough to make a rainbow blush, layered with Jim Thompson fabrics and curtains. Gert gave soul to this house of happiness, which makes no attempt to hide its venerable age (just imagine: it once housed the Moretus family of printers!). It creaks and groans beneath your feet, while its doors can occasionally be temperamental. That is all part of its charm, along with the cathedral bells next door and the flutter of wings from the doves in the secret garden. As romantic as they come, Hotel Flora has just seven rooms, each one different. An intimate address where, from time to time, you may find yourself sharing a common room with some of today’s most sought-after contemporary artists — in a setting that makes you want to paint the town in colour.