Reestdal route

The Reestdal is also home to many special plant species. The Marsh Marigold, but also rarities such as Greater Pimpernel, Northern Sedge and Marsh Cartel are present.

The Neighborhood

De Wijk was first mentioned in 1383. De Wijk is closely connected to the manors De Havixhorst, Dikninge, Dunnigen and Voorwijk and to the village of IJhorst in Overijssel, situated across the Reest. In the past, people said of De Wijk that it was a village without a church and of IJhorst that it was a church without a village.

IJhorst

IJhorst was first mentioned in 1176 as a village with 5 farms along the Reest, of which two were probably on the Overijssel side. The church of IJhorst was mentioned in 1292 and was dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The current building dates from 1823. The burial vault of the Lords of Munster is located under the choir and dates from 1658. The lords of De Havixhorst and the abbots of the Dikninge monastery are buried in the burial vault. Next to the church is a bell tower on a foundation of boulders. Due to the construction of the monastery with church in Dikninge around 1325, there were close ties with the church in IJhorst. The story goes that there was an underground passage that connected both churches. This passage has not been found to date.

Fort

Fort was created after 1850 during peat extraction. Whether there was ever a fort or other defensive structure is not known. The possibility of a ford (by the Reest) from which the word fort would be derived also seems unlikely.

Staphorst Forestry

The Staphorst forestry is located in the middle of a region with few forests. This makes it very attractive to animals, including badgers with their castles. The forests were planted between 1930 and 1940 by unemployed people from the west of the country as a job creation project. The forest is interspersed with fens and heathlands. Peat was still extracted in a number of fens until 1970. The large heathland 'De Vier Bergen' shows how it must have looked at the time the forest was planted.

Lankhorst

The hamlet of Lankhorst in the municipality of Staphorst consists mainly of farms along the Lankhorsterweg. The intersection of the nearby A28 and A32 was named Lankhorst junction. During the construction of this intersection, parts of an American fighter plane from the Second World War were found. This concerns a Republic Thunderbolt P-47D. The plane crashed during air combat with German fighters in 1944. The pilot was killed.

The Havixhorst / Dikninghe / Voorwijk

The Havixhorst was first mentioned in 1409 in the archives of the Dickninge Abbey. The current country house dates from 1753. The accompanying garden was redesigned in baroque style. The garden of the manor house is used as a herb garden for the restaurant and is freely accessible. On the spot Lutteke Havixhorst or 'De kleine Havixhorst' on the edge of the estate is the information centre 'De Lokkerij' about storks.

The 175 hectare Dikninge estate in English landscape style has an eventful history. In 1325 the monastery of Ruinen was moved to this location and from here the churches in Beilen, Blijdenstein Ruinen and Westerbork were served. After 1580 probably as a result of the 80-year war the monks had disappeared and in 1603 the monastery was closed. In 1795 Baron RH de Vos van Steenwijk became the new owner. He demolished all the old buildings and built a new one, the current building, which was completed in 1813.

Voorwijk was built at the end of the 18th century by W. Tonckens. Around 1900 the house came into the possession of the De Vos van Steenwijk family. Both the house and garden are not open to visitors.