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Nothing better than a long walk through the woods below Oisterwijk. You can hardly imagine it, but the Oisterwijkse Bossen and Vennen were once a vast heathland. The Scots pines you walk between were planted at the beginning of the nineteenth century for mining and shipbuilding. You will pass the Kolkven, the largest fen in the Oisterwijk forests. This fen was not carved by polar winds, but carved out by the swirling water of an old meltwater river. The Kolkven is therefore deeper than the other pools. Nowadays people walk at their leisure along the Brandven, but in the past it was sometimes stressful here: the water from this pond was used to extinguish fires. On the way, stop at Boshuys Hermitage with its beautiful waterfront terrace.