Royal tour through the dunes

Wassenaar is a chic place, you immediately notice that here. Especially between Wassenaar and The Hague you will find beautiful country houses, hidden in the green. Such as Vreeburg, the location of a very old castle, where a tower was built in the 19th century that can still be seen today - the rest of the house was simply built against it. Or De Paauw Estate, a beautiful classicist building that now houses the town hall of Wassenaar. The Backershagen and Wiltzanck estates, right next to it, are a nice place to take a break. The Backershagen park, designed by Zocher, is publicly accessible. The Wiltzanck estate is characterized by the beautiful tea dome, which you can clearly see from the road. De Wittenburg Castle is one of the few real castles here. At the end of the 19th century, Jonkheer Speelman wanted to build a house on this site that was somewhere between a stately castle and a historic country house, but in the end the preference for building a castle turned out to prevail. Thank goodness, because it really is a picture. Along this royal route you will also see a palace - a very special one in fact. Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague was the domain of Princess Beatrix for many years, but she has now moved into Drakensteyn Castle in Lage Vuursche. King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and their three daughters will move to Huis ten Bosch Palace, traditionally the home of the reigning king. A little further on you will pass Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the king's working palace. The government makes the palace available to the head of state by law. The palace also includes the Royal Stables and the palace garden with the Royal House Archives. Noordeinde Palace has always been the center of important events in the life of the royal family. For example, Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard and Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien were married from this palace. The oldest part of the palace dates from before 1533. In that year, the steward of the States of Holland, Willem Goudt, had the medieval homestead converted into a large residence. The cellars of this homestead are still part of the basement of the palace. Then you suddenly leave the hustle and bustle of the city far behind you when you drive into the Meijendel dune area. Here you can clearly see that the dune consists of an outer dune, middle dune and inner dune. The differences between these areas ensure that you can orient yourself well in Meijendel, because the further you go towards the inner dune, the higher the vegetation. And you can also hear it in the birds: in the outer dune they make short, loud sounds and in the inner dune the birds sing more melodiously. The outer dune can be found on the sea side of Meijendel: the foredune with parabolic dunes and moist dune valleys behind it. Here and there you will see sea buckthorns and hawthorn thickets and if you look closely you will see bird species such as the meadow pipit, stonechat, wheatear and skylark. In the central dune, where the infiltration ponds are located, there are many hawthorns. Thanks to the swamp and reed land, there are many ducks. Here you will find other bird species: the nightingale with its beautiful song, but also the reed bunting, willow warbler, warbler and blackcap. The inner dune consists of large valleys and parabolic dunes. You see a lot of forest there. A popular habitat for the blackbird, chiffchaff, finch, hawk, tree pipit and woodlark. These dunes are a true paradise for bird watchers! Enjoy this beautiful area a little longer and take a break at Meijendel pancake farm. The menu lists many tasty snacks and what about delicious pancakes in various versions? Here you can relax on the terraces of the pancake house while enjoying a snack and a drink!