Castle route: the manors of Dwingeloo

Your walk starts at't Hof van Dwingeloo. You walk along the edge of the Dwingelderveld National Park with its pine forests, peat bogs and juniper bushes. A little further on you will pass the former manor Oldengaerde. The first mention of the estate dates from 1420. In 1717, the manor house was radically renovated with a new facade. The second house was also built around this time. The houses are surrounded by a beautiful garden, which was designed after the garden of Versailles. Then you pass Westrup Castle, a former eighteenth-century manor house. You walk back along the terraces on the Brink, the beautifully restored green village square of Dwingeloo. Take a look at the fifteenth century Sint-Nicolaaskerk, with its striking spire in the shape of an onion.