Garnwerd, Den Ham and Adorp

North of the city of Groningen it is wonderful to cycle. Originally the region focused mainly on agriculture, but gradually it became more and more a commuter municipality for the nearby city capital of our northernmost province. The municipality also contains the old Middag and Humsterland cultural landscapes, with the area around and above the village of Oldenhove even being the oldest cultural landscape in Western Europe. It is characterized by natural and cultural-historical landscape elements such as wierden, salt marshes and dikes. The plots of the agricultural land are irregularly distributed and you can look far into the open landscape. You see the characteristic old farms, often of the head-neck-trunk type that was popular in 1850, but there are also other monumental farms. When you cycle through National Landscape Midden-Humsterland you will not be surprised that this beautiful Dutch environment is on the World Heritage List. You cycle to the beautiful Allersma. The Allersmaborg was built in a meander of the Reitdiep between the wierde village of Ezinge and Aduarderzijl. The oldest part of this deposit is the fifteenth century stone house, but the first settlement probably dates from up to three centuries earlier. In the sixteenth century, a wing was added, giving the deposit an L-shape, and in the seventeenth century, canals were constructed, canals were constructed, and a drawbridge was built. The Dovecote was founded in the mid-eighteenth century, but acquired a neo-Gothic style in the course of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, in 1976-1977, the deposit was completely restored. The Piloersemaborg/Hamsterborg is also the last farm deposit in the Netherlands and the history of the castle dates back at least to 1521. In that year, the deposit is first mentioned in writing, when a pastor from Oldehove inherits the Piloersemaborg. The priest's son-in-law converted the farm into a fortified castle. In the decades that followed, the castle was extensively renovated and the war damage was repaired several times, a plaque from 1633 with the family coats of arms of the owners is proof of this. In 2013, a hotel is located in the Piloersemaborg/Hamsterborg, so that the castle can only be viewed from the inside by guests. The estate around the deposit is freely accessible. The Former Reformed Church that you will encounter afterwards (key address H. Hogerwerf) is located on top of a mound on the road to Fransum. The nave was built at the beginning of the thirteenth century and the Gothic windows and west facade date from the first half of the sixteenth century. Inside the building is a striking stone pulpit. The small roof turret (the roof turret) was placed in 1809, the clock in the tower dates from 1704. Since 1909 the church is no longer used for religious purposes. The space has been repurposed as a location for concerts and gatherings. The next place of worship you cycle past is the Reformed Church of Adorp (key address S. Medema). The church was built in the thirteenth century in Romanesque style, but during a modernization in 1667 all Romanesque elements were removed. The church also had a separate tower, but it was demolished in 1794. The roof turret probably dates from 1794. The bell was cast in 1618. All in all, not much can be seen of the old Romanesque atmosphere of the church, certainly not since the building was plastered in the nineteenth century. Another historic building is the corn and hulling mill in Adorp: the Aeolus. Named after the Greek and Roman wind god, it is not difficult to guess which element gives the mill its power. The mill from 1851 was in operation until the 1980s as a forage trade and a few decades before that, electricity was generated with the Aeolus. The mill contains a pair of grinding stones and two peeling stones. The next point of interest is another church: the Reformed Church of Wetsinge (key address W. Bloem). The original simple hall church, built of tuff stone, was probably built in the eleventh or twelfth century, but it may also have had a wooden predecessor. The religious building probably also has a free-standing Gothic bell tower from the thirteenth or fourteenth century, but this was demolished in the mid-seventeenth century. The church itself was demolished in 1840 and rebuilt on the new site. The building has a neoclassical facade and the pulpit in the new church is probably a remnant of the old building. Finally, you will see corn and hulling mill Eureka, not far from the church. The mill was built in 1872 and was extensively restored in 1952. The octagonal windmill was modernized by bottom-driven peeling stones and an innovative transport and dust extraction system. However, the mill fell into disrepair again, so that it had to be renovated again in 1988. To prevent further deterioration, the mill was put back into operation on a voluntary basis.