Beegderheide

The Beegderheide is traditionally a wooded area where farmers used to graze their cattle together. Due to intensive use, the area gradually changed into a meadow landscape. Nowadays, the nature reserve is home to interesting animals and plants; in 1995, a recovery plan was started to preserve and protect the heathland and the plant and animal species. Initially, you would mainly find beautiful flora on the Beegderheide, including marsh gentian, white and brown beak sedge, marsh stag's-wort or small dodder. During the recovery plan, even a few plant species appeared that were never known to have grown on the heath, such as white water crowfoot and loose bladderwort. The recovery plan also worked well for the diversity of animal species in the area. The disappeared nightjar can be spotted again and the field cricket expanded its habitat, but new species such as the redstart and blue-winged grasshopper now also live on the Beedgerheide. On the route, after 7 kilometers in Baexem, you will come across the Aurora post mill. This mill was built in 1845 and still grinds grain on a voluntary basis. If you continue along the route, you will come across the Grathemermolen in Grathem. This is a water mill that was modernised in 1874 and was converted into a turbine mill in 1915-1916. The water wheel that can be seen was installed in 1995 to give the mill its original appearance. The Grathemermolen heralds a pleasant change in the landscape: the area is becoming richer in water. When you arrive in Beedgen, the St. Lindert, a post mill that is operational again after a thorough restoration in 2000, is located along the route. This grain mill used to be open and freely accessible, but a wall was built around it in 1928. The castle in Horn, located next to the Maas, is definitely worth a visit. The medieval castle is one of the oldest intact ring-wall castles in the Netherlands. It is a striking building with a square gatehouse, a southern wing and two semicircular towers that are connected by a ring wall. Around the castle is a landscaped park and a 19th-century castle farm that originally belonged to the castle. The Friedessemolen is the next item on the program. This mill is centuries old and grain is still ground here in the old-fashioned way, with millstones. If you are curious about how this works, you can also view the mill from the inside. The last special mill on the route is the Leumolen. This water mill is both a grain and oil mill. The oldest mention of the Leumolen dates from 1558, but the mill may be much older. A charter from 1276 already mentions a mill in Nunhem, and it is strongly suspected that this is the Leumolen or a predecessor. In 1773, the mill was rebuilt in stone.