I am not a gardener. Possibly because I spent my childhood summers in my grandmother’s garden, weeding and watering, and didn’t want to see a growing thing in close-up for decades after that. It’s more likely, though, that I simply lack the inclination and patience for it.

While I don’t enjoy the process, I do very much enjoy the result. I like trees, I like flowers, I like herbs, I even like vegetables. And I like gardens as concepts and as places. I am very grateful, when someone has gone through all that trouble, taken care of their garden for years, and then lets me enjoy it. I have this fantasy of going on an English garden tour, in a dusty pink tea dress, like Hercule Poirot. (Not that Poirot would wear a tea dress, but you know what I mean.)

I like all kinds of gardens, the familiar Estonian and Scandinavian ones, informal English gardens, austere Japanese gardens, the lush ones of Morocco and the geometric ones of France. They don’t have to be fancy, but they can, I have no time for reverse snobbery.

And they don’t come much fancier than the gardens and greenhouses of the King of the Belgians. These are open to the public once a year for a couple of weeks, when most of the trees are in bloom. Cherry trees, almond trees, magnolias, all are magnificent in different shades of pink and cream. That alone would be enough to visit, but dotted around this garden park are the fantastical greenhouses, built for Leopold II in the second half of the 19th century.

I have a particularly spot for orangeries and greenhouses. They seem romantic to me, a mixture of unnecessary luxury, enthusiastic curiosity about the faraway lands and genuine love for beauty. The 10 greenhouses, orangeries and galleries in Laeken are prime examples of this. I said they were fancy and they are – a greenhouse dedicated solely to azaleas, hundreds of meters of galleries filled with fuchsias and geraniums, huge palm houses – this isn’t exactly low maintenance. But there is also something slightly off about the eclectic complex: the somewhat haphazard way the buildings are thron together, the huge crown atop the Winter Garden, the failed attempt to grow the native flora of Congo, the uneasy feeling of the common folk being let in once a year to gawk at the royal splendor… But these dissonances make the visit more interesting, not less.

If you happen to be in Belgium now or next year at the same time, do go. It is fascinating, it is strange, it is beautiful.

The Royal Greenhouses in Laeken are open every day from 9AM to 4PM and then again from 8PM to 10PM. We went in the evening, so the pictures sadly don’t reflect the beauty of the place. Next time, I’ll go when it’s light, wear a long turquoise dress and be photographed with all those pink blooms.