Buitenplaats Houdringe

Houdringe was once a court of Oostbroek. In 1640 the farm came into the possession of Jan Frederik Mamuchet, son of a wealthy French copper butcher. He built a manor house with a farm on this site and named it after the family property of Houdringue near Lille. A later owner built the current house in the French style in 1779. Now it is owned by Grontmij and used as an office. A French garden was created during the construction of the current house in 1779. Around 1850 the garden was changed into English landscape style by Zocher. To support the French architecture of the facade, a French (more formal) garden was again laid out around the house in 1956. The estate has been owned by Utrecht Landscape since 1954. There are a number of very thick trees in the grasslands on the estate. These oaks and beeches, which have a diameter of more than a meter, are now more than 235 years old. A striking feature is the grand driveway with a double row of beech trees. Watch out for the fly agarics in the fall!