Country houses and mills at the Loosdrechtse Plassen

Explore the Loosdrechtse Plassen and enjoy the stately country houses and classic mills that define the atmosphere in the area. The Loosdrechtse Plassen are the beating heart of the nature that you will discover during the bike ride. Water was given more and more space by peat extraction and there are dikes and small islands between the lakes. From the starting point you cycle five kilometers until you see the first three historic country estates along the route: Oud Over, Bijdorp and Vegtlust. Along the eastern bank of the Vecht, a historic park, a garden dome, a gardener's house/horse stable/coach house and a beautiful main building together form Oud Over. The whole is enclosed with entrance gates. In the nineteenth century, Johannes Willem van Reenen bought four country estates that were next to each other on the Vegt. Bijdorp was one of them, another was Vegtlust, which was built in the eighteenth century. The other two were demolished and a beautiful park was created on the vacant piece of land. In 1981, Vegtlust was renovated and six apartments were built, but Bijdorp is one of the best preserved country estates in the area. Various parts of this country estate are protected because they are national monuments, such as the main building from 1700 and the historical garden and park layout. Three kilometres further on, you will find the country estates Vreedenhoff and Middenhoek. Both country estates are surrounded by beautiful park-like gardens complete with ponds, groups of trees, woodland and open spaces. The main building of Middenhoek burned down in 1956, but the coachman's house, gardener's house, staff house, tea house and coach house can still be admired. The last attraction on the programme is the Gabriël mill. The mill, which is also known as the Voorste mill, was built in 1635. The ground sailer is still operational, but no longer drains the polder. The working gear and paddle wheel have been removed, but painter Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël immortalised the mill several times on canvas.