Vierhuizen, Oldehove and Winsum

An age-old, open mound landscape. National Landscape Afternoon-Humsterland has been used by people for more than 2,500 years. See winding ditches and depressions with tidal channels, a natural drainage system that made life here easier. Undeveloped mounds, but also villages and the occasional house, stand on the elevations that used to provide protection against the rising water. They are legally protected, because the cultural-historical and landscape value of the area is unprecedented. Be surprised by the beautiful farms that dominate the Frisian landscape. The oldest and most characteristic type, the head-neck-trunk farm, is a sight to behold, but the stelp farm is also beautiful. The somewhat plump, but very strong black Frisian horses gallop with you in the meadows of the polders and the black and white cows loudly greet you. In places where forests, reed fields and swamps alternate with grassy meadows, many birds seek peace and quiet. Great bitterns and bearded birds skim over the plain, while thousands of geese and ducks seek refuge in the water or along the banks. National Landscape Afternoon-Humster is a true bird paradise! When you start the cycle tour, you set course for Oldehove. The small town has less than 2,000 inhabitants and the village contains the beautiful old tower mill De Leeuw from 1855. The mill replaced an octagonal upper porter built in 1789 that stood southwest of the church. In 1972 the mill was sold to the then municipality of Oldehove and in 1974 the mill was restored. This restoration took two years. In'78 the mill was put back into use for its original function; grinding and peeling. In the summer of 2010, the mill was out of operation for a short time to repair the inner rods. Minor repairs were carried out in 2011. Ezinge is such a village, built on an artificial (residential) hill (called terp in Friesland and mound in Groningen) and is the main village of the former Middag peninsula, which is now called Reitdiep. Ezinge was best known for the excavations done here in the 1920s. Remains of farms and outbuildings have been found from the period from 600 BC to the fifth century AD. You cycle to the Allersmaborg, which was built in a meander of the Reitdiep between Ezinge and Aduarderzijl. The oldest part of this castle 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 castle an L-shape, and in the seventeenth century, canals were constructed, canals were added 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 castle was completely restored. In the mound village of Garnwerd you will see another tower mill. De Meeuw was built in 1851 to replace a burnt-out post mill. The mill underwent several restorations in the twentieth century, during which the octagonal flour mill was stripped of its pelting stones. The mill can be visited on Sunday afternoon. The last sight you see during your cycle tour is also a tower mill. De Zwaluw was built in 1885. Its predecessor dated from 1831, but this mill was destroyed by fire in 1858. After that fire, Enne Wiebes Kamphuis, baker and miller, almost immediately had a new peeling and flour mill built. In the summer of 2010, the roof of the mill was completely removed and subsequently restored to the ground. The mill was only put back into use on April 26, 2012.