Cycling through historic Drenthe

Want to cycle through the Drenthe of the past for a day? Then come to the Drentsche Aa National Landscape, the best preserved stream and esdorp landscape in Western Europe.

The Drentsche Aa
In this national landscape you drive through a backdrop of grasslands, forests, hedgerows, heaths and ash trees. Historical? Yes, because the landscape has hardly changed in 150 years. The Drentsche Aa still meanders through the landscape in its original way. While almost every other area in the Netherlands was being overhauled, people here took the landscape as it was. It seems like you are driving through a Drenthe open-air museum.

Esdorpen
On your route you will see some beautiful old Saxon farms. You pass through characteristic esdorps such as Gasteren and Andere. Here you can still see the original village greens: meadows lined with old beech and oak trees. Balloo has no village green, but lies like a wreath around the ash tree. The town of Oudemolen is named after a dilapidated watermill that once stood near the Drentsche Aa. Still standing is De Zwaluw, a thatched corn mill from 1837 just outside Oudemolen.

Jungle in Assen
One of the oldest forests in the Netherlands can be found in a place you wouldn't expect at all: in the middle of Assen. A small part of the Asserbos still consists of the primeval forest that covered Drenthe in the Middle Ages. The rest of the forest is also there. After cultivation for agriculture proved fruitless, most of the current forest was planted as a baroque star forest in 1784. If you look around you, you will recognize the clean lines and symmetry that were fashionable at the time. And you can still see some of the original oaks and beech trees that have now reached a more than respectable age. Would you like to get to know another part of Drenthe's rich cultural history? Then ride the historic TT tour with route 316480.