Tour of Winterswijk, land of scholten farms

Your route starts at Restaurant De Voortwisch. You will find several authentic scholten farms around Winterswijk. The scholte was the Saxon version of the sheriff: an official who was responsible for local justice and law enforcement on behalf of the ruler. He also had to take care of the maintenance of the landscape. Special privileges allowed the area to grow from a scholte into a powerful farming estate. The characteristic bocage landscape around Winterswijk is partly due to these scholts. On the Meerdinkweg below the village of Woold you pass through the former Meerdink scholten estate. Here you cycle through a centuries-old bocage landscape with old oak forest, fields, meadows, hedgerows and streams. Bekendelle is an old deciduous forest, just like Döttinkrade - the latter is beautifully situated on the Ratumse Beek.