Terborg, Ulft and Varsseveld

This route takes you to Wisch Castle in Terborg, whose history goes back eight centuries. The old castle was demolished in 1531 and in 1644 the current white building was rebuilt on the eastern bank of the IJssel. The construction of the complex is very unusual. The main building dates from the 16th and 17th centuries and is dated 1648, but the foundations of the round tower are a century older. The white color was only applied in the nineteenth century. The two monumental lime trees on the forecourt of the estate are beautiful and the black walnut tree is more than two centuries old! With a circumference of almost 5 meters, it is the thickest walnut in the Netherlands.

Halfway through the route you cross the small village of Vredeveld with only six thousand inhabitants. This place was probably inhabited very early; Traces of reindeer hunters and settlements that traded with the Romans in Roman times were found in the area. The name WAZ velde, the original name of Vredeveld, already appeared in a deed from 823.

One of the remnants from the history of the village of Vredeveld is the De Engel tower mill, built in 1850. In 1936, the contents of the mill, including grinding stones, sails and upper shaft, were sold because the then owner was affected by the economic crisis in the years \'30 (literally) saw no more bread in the windmill company. In 1957, the mill hull became a monument and in 1967 the municipality bought the remainder to enable possible restoration of the mill. Ultimately, it was not until 1976 that the mill was festively reopened on May 22.

The last attraction of the tour is the Slangenburg estate with its associated castle. The similarity with the royal palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague is striking: in Huis Ten Bosch the wife of the stadtholder had paintings painted on the walls to honor her husband; Frederik Johan van Baer decorated Slangenburg Castle with paintings of his wife, whom he lost to an illness. From the U-shaped castle, as we know it today, Van Baer built the ancestral manor, which only consisted of the western tower and adjacent structure. In addition to being an artistic painter, Mr. van Baer was also a good agricultural economist. For example, he bought the Doetinchemse Heide from the city of Doetinchem and built a lane system there that still exists today.