Village and Veldroute

The Dorp en Veld walking route starts in Gieten at the church in Gieten.

To pour
Gieten is first mentioned in 1221, but must be much older, given the burial mounds in the Zwanemeerbos to the north of Gieten. The current hotel Braams was built in 1617 as an inn along the medieval route Groningen-Coevorden. Part of this can be seen as a dirt road through the Zwanemeerbos. Windmill"De Hazewind\\\" was built in 1833.

History Railway
The Dorp en Veldroute follows part of the route of the former Assen-Stadskanaal railway line to the station at Gasselte. This line was built in 1904-1905 by the Noord Ooster Local Spoorweg Maatschappij (NOLS). The NOLS was founded in 1899 in Zwolle. One of the main initiators was Mr. J.Willink, a textile manufacturer in Winterswijk, who had previously been involved in the construction of railway lines in Twente. The Assen-Stadskanaal railway line was part of the NOLS line network, which stretched from Zwolle to Delfzijl. The purpose of these railway lines was to improve access to the Drenthe and Groningen countryside. In addition to transporting people, this made it possible to transport agricultural products cheaper and faster. As was the case with so many local railways, passenger transport fell sharply in the 1930s due to the rise of the car and bus and the crisis. Passenger services on the line were to be discontinued as early as 1939, but passenger trains continued to run until 1948 due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The Ravine
North of Gasselte, the track of the former railway line is more than 8 meters deep, in order to reduce the height difference between the Hondsrug and the Hunzedal. It is therefore called'The Ravine\\\'. The sand released from this was used to construct the railway embankment in the Hunzedal.

Gasselte station
At Gasselte the railway split. The section to Stadskanaal is still completely intact as a footpath, with the exception of a section near Gasselternijveen. The Weerdinge-Exloo-Buinen section is still clearly visible in the landscape and is also marked by the small station in Valthe that is still present.

Hunzedal
The river Hunze rises as Achterste Diep in the Exloosche Landen and Exloosche Monden and as Voorste Diep, at Borger through the Hondsrug, in the Eeservenen. The Hunze is located in the valley between the Hondsrug on the west side and a low sand ridge on the east side. This low sand ridge ensured that the former Bourtangermoor did not reach the Hondsrug. The Hunze flows into the Zuidlaardermeer and then goes as Drentsche Diep to the Winschoter Diep. The Hunzedal was created in the Ice Age. Halfway through the 18th century, the Hunze became important for peat shipping. The Hunze was navigable up to Gasselternijveen. In the 1960s, the Hunze was channeled to regulate drainage for agriculture. Because the Hunze is largely fed with seepage water, the regulation turned out not to work properly. Large parts of the river basin are being returned to nature by excavating old meanders.