Discover the mills in North Holland

Explore the beautiful province of North Holland. The many beautiful windmills and the cozy courtyards of Alkmaar are the highlight of this bike tour. The historic center, which has hundreds of beautiful municipal and national monuments, has still retained the authentic atmosphere of an old city. The city center and the Westerhoutkwartier are not protected cityscapes for nothing! You can follow the water of the canals, with low bridges running over them, or visit the traditional cheese market. In De Waag, where cheese is traditionally weighed, there is even a cheese museum!

In Alkmaar you visit the Damlander mill. Around 1700 the ground sailer was built, with the aim of draining the Damlanderpolder. This initially took place on the Schermerboezem. When the polder mill was sold to a private individual in the middle of the 20th century, he removed the going work in 1957.

The first mill you see in Alkmaar is on the edge of the city. This polder mill, which was probably built in 1781, drained the Munniken-, Raven- and Robonsbospolder. Even when the mill was dismantled in the period 1931-1976, it was used as a signal mill. The wooden reel cross is unique to this mill. Despite the mill's ability to turn, it is used as a home. The Geestmolen is a polder mill with an oak octagon on a low base. It was built in 1565. In the past, the mill ground the corn that the Geestmolenpolder, a piece of land of 170 hectares, yielded. That function ceased when a new housing estate was built in the polder. In 2015, the thatched Geestmolen drains the polder on a voluntary basis.

The Molen van Piet is located almost in the historical center of Alkmaar and is for that reason already nice to visit. The octagonal tower mill still dominates the cityscape as an old rampart mill. In 1884 Cornelis Piet bought the mill and had a house built in the bottom of the corn mill. A member of the Piet family still pumps the mill.

Then you pass the Varnebroekermolen, a whip water mill that had a predecessor that drained the polder Maalwater. The mill is characteristically located in a meadow and therefore has a great landscape value. In the first half of 2013 the mill will be restored, so that the mill can once again participate in the water management of the Baafjespolder.