The Begijn (Beguine) order started during the crusades when 'desolate' women, mostly widows and orphans, started to devote themselves to prayer and good work with orphans and the poor, without taking vows. Originally they lived as urban hermits, but gradually the idea of grouping their cabins together gave birth to the Begijnhof.
I first learned about the Begijn order in Brugge, but became compulsively interested when we firt visited Mechelen. Thus, our main reason for returning to Mechelen was actually to visit the Begijnhoven more extensively (and as a base for visits to two other local ones, at Lier and Dendermonde).
Mechelen itself has two Begijnhofs, the Klein Begijnhof and, inevitably, the Grote Begijnhof. As with the others I've visited, these are situated on the edge of the old town. As of 2003 I noticed that there's a "wandeling" laid out, which takes you round the area in a fairly structured fashion without blundering around. It's marked in green.
Lier boasts a Street Begijnhof that's a little different in character from those at Mechelen. It's on the edge of town and segregated by gates. It's also huge. We walked around it for about an hour and a half in all and still didn't see all of it.
It also struck me, when putting together the page about Dendermonde and comparing it with the other enclosed Begijnhof we'd seen, that we've never been back to Brugge, the place where I first encountered both the Begijns and the work of Guido Gezelle. I didn't understand what I'd found, so I don't have very many photographs of the place, but I felt I should add it to this section anyway. Now that we've finally seen the Hanswijk procession in Mechelen, I hope to go back soon and record the Brugge Beginhof properly.