Anloo, Rolde and Eext

The Drentsche Aa winds its way through a landscape where farmers have held sway for years. Nevertheless, they have managed to keep the landscape reasonably intact and have adapted to the meandering river with respect for nature. This is an area where fields have been created on rounded ash trees, where fields have been created on higher ground and where hay meadows and meadows can be found in lower stream valleys. The farmlands are dominated by Saxon farms around village greens. The result: a unique esdorp landscape like you can't find anywhere else. In a beautiful scenic landscape, open and closed areas alternate, so that the picturesque area always remains exciting. From the starting point of the route, you can park your car for free at De Koningsberg, and cycle to a historic burial mound. Drenthe is also home to several of these centuries-old graves and all burial mounds in the Netherlands are archaeological monuments. In these ancient hills the dead were given their final resting place. When someone died, he was kept in a coffin or urn, after which a burial mound was built over the human remains. Several people were buried in a burial mound. Burial mounds have even been found that were used at different times and that were continually modified and raised over the centuries. The burial mounds in Drenthe date from the Bronze Age. Another historical element during your tour is Motte Gieten. A motte-and-bailey castle is a type of castle from the Middle Ages, usually made of wood and built on a landscaped mound of earth: a motte. A residential tower (donjon), castle or defense structure was built on that hill and the earth with which the hill was raised often came from the moat that was dug around it. It is not clear whether the Gieten motte had a permanent resident and what the motte would have looked like in full regalia.