Burgh-Haamstede, Renesse and Scharendijke

Sea, beach, dunes, wind, nature, space and openness: Schouwen-Duiveland has it all. Beautiful views over the water alternate with the flat, wide interior, characteristic villages and pleasant hamlets. You make your way through the dunes and look out over the sea. Listening to the surf or the silence that reigns in the wide interior, you can relax completely. You will not only get your money's worth in terms of nature, because Schouwen-Duiveland also has beautiful historic buildings. The round, stone, white-painted tower mill from 1847 looks charming thanks to all the greenery in the vicinity. Nowadays a pancake house is located at the mill and the flour that is ground by the mill is processed into the traditional pancakes. The flour is also sold in the shop at the mill. In 2003, a saw window was installed at the mill, giving it a combined function of corn and saw mill. For a fee you can view an exhibition about the mill in the Graanhalm. You leave the mill behind and cycle to't Huys Grol. Grol, which means green, is one of the many typical country houses that used to be frequently built along the inner dune edge of North and South Holland and Zeeland. Usually, these second homes were occupied only in winter by merchants, who mostly made their living trading colonial goods. The history't Huys Grol goes back to 1599.\\\'t Huys Grol is one of the few country houses in this area that is still privately inhabited. The small estate is also operated as a guest house and is a national monument. The beautiful Slot Moermond is located on the 45-hectare estate of the same name, which is a protected nature reserve. The castle originally dates from the thirteenth century. In 1953 the castle was seriously damaged by weather influences and the flood disaster. In 2011 and 2012, the damaged walls of, among other things, the moat were repaired. Nowadays, the castle and the estate are made available for private occasions such as parties, business meetings and weddings, but the grounds with a wide driveway and a beautiful canal can also be visited by the public. You arrive in Scharendijke and leave the dunes behind for good. You cycle to windmill De Lelie, a small ground sailer that was built in 1868. A restaurant is located next door. In 2008, part of the restaurant was demolished and the proliferation of trees around the mill was cut down so that it could run again. Since then, the mill has been in use again and is now one of the most rotating mills in Zeeland. The pancakes and bread available at the mill are baked from our own ground flour. The mill house is inhabited by the miller. The last windmill you see during your trip is't Hert. This ground sailer, which had a predecessor in the form of a standard mill on the same site, was installed in 1748 to grind grain. Until 1971, the mill was only operated as a wind company and in the very last years before the demise of the mill, only animal feed was ground. In May 1996, after a period of decline, the mill was running for the last time, until a large-scale restoration began. Just before you return to the hotel, you will arrive at Slot Haamstede. This is an old castle that dates back to the thirteenth century. In 1525 the castle was almost completely destroyed by a fire, so the castle had to be rebuilt. The current fortress was therefore mainly built in the sixteenth century. The castle was last restored in 1973 and in 1981 it came into the hands of the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten. The estate belonging to the castle contains the only deciduous forest in Schouwen-Duivenland.