Zeddam, Ulft and Varsseveld

The Achterhoek is an excellent cycling area and has a lot to offer recreational cyclists. The landscape is often described as a bocage landscape because of the rapidly changing environments. Forests, meadows, small villages and here and there a castle are elements that determine the changing image, as if the sets are changed quickly on a large stage. The rolling landscape offers you beautiful vistas between the trees and beautiful views with the bonus that fields and lovely villages alternate nicely. One of the remnants of the history of the village of Vredeveld is the tower windmill De Engel from 1850. In 1936, the contents of the mill, including grinding stones, blades and winding shaft, were sold because the owner at the time was out of business due to the economic crisis in the 1930s. 30 (literally) saw no more bread in the windmill business. In 1957 the mill hull became a monument and in 1967 the municipality bought the remainder to enable a possible restoration of the mill. In the end, it was not until 1976 that the mill was festively reopened on May 22. The route leads past Slangenburg estate with accompanying 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; in Slangenburg Castle, Frederik decorated Johan van Baer 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 house, which consisted only of the west tower with adjoining 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 laid out a lane system there that still exists today. Just before you return to Zeddam you pass the Braamtse Molen, a thatched ground sailer from 1932 and owned by the same family since 1872. From a distance this upper porter still looks photogenic, but when you get closer, the decay is unfortunately visible.