The buildings which have been preserved date from the 14th to the 19th centuries and are arranged around an 18th century fortified courtyard. Fine sober French gardens, laid out on a series of grassed terraces run down to the pond. This domain was created as long ago as the Middle Ages by the take-over of Lobbes Abbey property by Gilles de Barbençon. In 1235, the Abbot of Lobbes and the Lord of Barbençon reached an agreement to determine who was the owner of the land in this area. The agreement stipulated that the Abbot of Lobbes was indeed the owner and that the yield of the land would be shared between the two parties. For that purpose, they jointly appointed a forester to manage the property.

The name “ Fosteau” derives from “forestier”. Wauthier de Semousies received the property from Duchess Jeanne of Brabant in about 1380. His successors, the Lords of Sars, then the Lords of Zwenne, Marotte, Henry and Jamblines, carefully developed the dwellings around the central keep which marked the residence of the lay lord. It is in this building that we find one of the finest gothic rooms in Belgium. The marquises of Barbentane, the heirs of the d’Aousts, managed to keep together the great agricultural holding in the middle of which the Château stands out like a stone and pink brick island. The Château and its surrounds have been a listed monument since 1979. Since 1980, the Château has been used as the setting for a permanent exhibition of antique furniture as well as for prestigious cultural events.