Rollingergrund, from washerwomen and pottery to the woods

If Villeroy & Boch rings a bell, this district is part of its story. In 1766 the Boch brothers were granted the right to open their earthenware factory here, and the firm kept producing in Rollingergrund until 2010, according to the city. Today it’s a residential district in the north-west of the capital, officially Rollingergrund / Belair-Nord, with 4,724 residents over 633.87 hectares, which makes it the second largest in the city.

Gardeners, washerwomen and pottery

Until the 1930s Rollingergrund was market-garden country. The tourist office counts 18 farms and nurseries, among them Ketten and Soupert, the same rose growers who made Limpertsberg famous. Earlier still came the Septfontaines washerwomen, with eight wash-houses recorded in 1707.

Then came the pottery. After the 1766 permit, the factory won the title of imperial and royal manufactory in 1767. It’s one of the more curious industrial stories in the country to my mind, tying a brand known worldwide to a residential valley hardly any visitor sees.

What is the capital’s Château de Septfontaines?

This is where a mix-up needs clearing up. Rollingergrund’s Château de Septfontaines was completed in 1784, restored in 1976 and is bound up with the pottery’s history. It has nothing to do with the medieval Septfontaines castle in the Eisch valley, in another municipality. If that’s the one you want, see my guide to castles in Luxembourg.

Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue church dates from 1887, and Siewebueren square, at 12,312 m², is the district’s open space.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Luxembourg before prices climb.

From municipality to hospital district

Rollingergrund belonged to Eich until a law of 8 May 1849 made it a municipality in its own right, and in 1920 it joined the capital. The Charly railway ran through from 1904 to 1920, and buses have served it since 1926, so it has been well connected to the centre for a century. Within its boundaries you’ll find the Centre Hospitalier, the children’s clinic and the university’s Limpertsberg campus.

The Bambësch, woods and a playground

What I’d come for is the greenery. The district includes part of the Bambësch, the forest you enter from Mühlenbach, and part of Tony Neuman Park. Free walks, minutes from the centre, and a welcome change of pace after the crowds on the Corniche. On the far side of the Bambësch, outside the city, lies Bridel, in the commune of Kopstal.

With children in tow, head for the newly renovated Bambësch forest playground at 67 rue des Sept-Arpents. The tourist office lists slides, swings, a sandpit, a zip line, a climbing wall, a wooden obstacle course and water play, plus picnic tables, shade, toilets, drinking water and parking at the entrance. What I like most is the concept, because the play equipment copies the city’s fortress, from the Bock and the castle bridge to the Hollow Tooth, the Three Towers and the Alzette. Bus 33 takes you there from the centre. It sits alongside the city’s other favourites in playgrounds in Luxembourg.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Luxembourg before prices climb.

How I’d spend an afternoon

I’d start on Siewebueren square, walk past the Château de Septfontaines and the 1887 church, then carry on towards the woods. Neither the city nor the tourist office lists a pottery museum in the district, so I’d read up on the Boch story before setting out. The walk is more about a city in transition than a postcard, which is precisely what makes it interesting.

Getting there

City buses run out from the centre and are free. I’d pair it with Belair, just to the south, on the same afternoon.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Luxembourg and choose by the reviews.

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So you do not pay over the odds, look at trains, coaches and flights to Luxembourg on Omio and pick the one that suits you.