Bioul () is a village of

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and a district of the municipality of

Anhée Anhée ( ; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 6,934 inhabitants. The total area is 65.67 km2, giving a population density of 106 inhabitants per km2. The municipa ...

, located in the

province of Namur Namur (; ; ) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French department of Ardennes. Its ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Bioul was previously administered as an independent municipality until 1977. Bioul is located on the Condroz region of Belgium, a few kilometers to the west of the Meuse valley

Etymology

The name of Bioul derives from the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

name ''bi-gorto'' meaning "enclosure".

History

Economy

The village is served by regular bus services to

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

and

Dinant Dinant () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. On the shores of river Meuse, in the Ardennes, it lies south-east of Brussels, south ...

. At the

Château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

white and sparkling wines, a little reminiscent of

Riesling Riesling ( , ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...

, are produced using varieties of Johanniter, Muscaris and Pinotin grapes, grown locally, having been adapted to survive a climate that is only just warm enough to support

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

Television celebrity

During the 1980s Bioul acquired a level of possibly unwelcome national celebrity thanks to the '' Tatayet Show'' broadcast on national television. The television humourist Jacques Jossart delighted in using an exaggerated pronunciation, referring to the village as "Bi-Youlll", and this caricatured pronunciation was later taken up by a younger generation of comedians such as François Pirette.

Notes

External links

Site of the municipality of Anhée

Site of the Chateau of Bioul
Sub-municipalities of Anhée Former municipalities of Namur (province) {{Namur-geo-stub