Through nature in the Ossendrecht area

The tour takes you through the landscape of the Wouwse Plantage and through the border park De Zoom - Kalmthoutse Heide. The nature consists of (sometimes slightly sloping) sandy soils with forests, heaths, dunes, fens and small-scale fields and meadows. The route starts and ends at De Volksabdij & restaurant De Blauwe Pauw in Ossendrecht. The Volksabdij was built a few years before the Second World War by unemployed young people from the area. The buildings functioned as a hospital, school and boarding school. In the courtyard of the Volksabdij there is a statue of Omer Gielliet - made from a 200-year-old beech tree - representing the primeval mother Mary and the primeval father Francis. The statue was unveiled in 2002 and is a reminder of the work the brothers have done for the working class boys in the area. You can enjoy a snack, drink or dinner in the restaurant or on the terrace. Feel free to try one of the local delicacies, such as a Volksabdij beer or the Dreijhop cheese. You can spend the night in De Volksabdij in one of the 35 authentic abbey rooms, the furnishings vary from pure to very luxurious. The name Ossendrecht has nothing to do with the animal. It is a corruption of Ussedrecht. A usse is a dune along the Scheldt, a drecht is a ford. From the starting point you drive south.

Soon you enter De Stoppelbergen, which is part of the border park De Zoom - Kalmthoutse Heide. The path in this mixed forest slopes because it is located on the Brabantse Wal. There are many maritime pines in the area. They can be recognized by the very long needles and very large pine cones. The trees are always crooked and the bark has a very coarse structure. In the forest you initially drive on the border between the Netherlands and Belgium, a little later you cross the border unnoticed. You pass Putte, a border village that is partly in the Netherlands and partly in Belgium.

The Belgian Putte also belongs to two municipalities, Stabroek and Kapellen. Just past Kalmthout you cross the border park towards the Netherlands. This is the part called the Kalmthoutse Heide. This former low moor area has been transformed over the centuries into a beautiful large heath with fens and pine forests. In Huijbergen you drive past De Johanna, a beautiful stone belt mill from 1862. A little later you drive into the Wouwse Plantage, one of the most beautiful forest areas in the Netherlands. This estate, built in the sixteenth century, contains many coniferous forests, while in the north the land has been made suitable for agriculture. The few buildings that are there seem untouched by time. Landgoed Lievensberg may also be there. Here the landscape consists of sand drifts, heath gardens and pine forests.