The Oude Durme is a series of old meanders cut off from the current river Durme in the 1930s, located between the municipalities of Hamme and Waasmunster in East-Flanders. For centuries the lower course of the Durme, a tributary of the Scheldt, ensured seasonal inundation of the bordering hayfields and marshes, some of the most fertile in the province. Low embankments were built to protect the fields from flooding in the summer months. Even today the historical landscape with its original dikes, smaller meadow irrigation relics and rows of walnut trees bordering the Oude Durme, is well preserved. The Durme marshes have been an inspiration for painters since the 19th century - as they remain for photographers today.