Glory Ruin Route

The route runs through the area of the Heerlijkheid Ruinen. What is a Glory? A seigneury is an area in which government authority was granted on loan by, for example, the bishop of Utrecht to, in this case, the Lords of Ruinen. The lords of Ruinen lived in the castle of Ruinen; the no longer existing manor of Oldenhave. The Lords were allowed to govern the area, administer justice, appoint ministers and levy taxes. In addition to the six Dingspelen, Drenthe had three other lordships: Coevorden, Echten and Hoogersmilde.
The oldest monastery in Drenthe stood in Ruinen on the site of the current church. The Benedictine monastery was founded around 1140. In 1325 the monks moved to Dikninge because Ruinen became too busy (too many people). In and around the current church you can still find remains of the monastery's abbey church. After 1325, the abbey church was used as a parish church by the Heerlijkheid Ruinen. The interior of the church is also particularly beautiful, including: 16th century wall paintings and an altar stone from 1100 from the old chapel.

Forestry Ruinen
This 1000 hectare forest and heathland area was created in 1940. Before that time it was a peat, heathland and drifting sand area. The forestry consists largely of conifers; deciduous trees are much less common. During the reclamation, the natural areas were left undisturbed. As a result, the wet heath vegetation of the Gijsselter and Pesserkoelen as well as the drifting sands of the Echtenerzand with its juniper thickets and irregular fly pine trees have been preserved.
Black woodpecker nest cavities have been carved out in the beech trees in the beech avenue, which runs through the middle of the forestry. Tawny owls, cave doves and jackdaws breed in the old caves; also
martens and bats raise their young there. On the heath you can encounter the adder, the grass snake and the viviparous lizard.

Really
An old esdorp, founded around 1180 as an area owned by the monastery of Ruinen. In the 13th century, descendants of the Van Coevorden family (the noble owners of the castle in Coevorden) settled in Echten and built a manor there. The oldest part of the current house probably dates from the 15th century. The garden around the house is much more recent and was constructed in 1992.

Koekange
Koekange was first mentioned in 1191. The monks of the Ruinen monastery mined the peat bogs. The village was cut in half with the construction of the Groningen-Meppel railway line in 1970.

Bledenstein
The Reformed Church of Ruinerwold is located in the hamlet of Bledenstein. The church dates from the 12th century and was enlarged in the 16th century. The tower was built in the 15th century. The interior includes a Van Oeckelen organ.

Ruinerwold
A charter from 1141 already mentions a marshland between Ruinen and Meppel.
Around 1900, a number of large farms emerged along the road to Meppel.
Until 1924 the Dr. Larijweg was a footpath that passed in front of the farms. When it was put into use, it was determined that more than 1,300 pear trees had to be planted. The flowering trees give the landscape a special look in the spring among the ribbon of farms. The dr. Larijweg forms the cycling connection between Ruinerwold and Ruinen. Museum farm De Karstenhoeve is located at number 21. The building from 1680 contains 17th century cupboard walls and tile panels.