Daydreaming in Drenthe villages

Drenthe's village greens and esdorp seem like a time machine: here you can daydream about times gone by. This route takes you through some of those beautiful villages, such as Orvelte.

Saxon farms
Even after Orvelte, a number of picturesque villages await you, such as Zweeloo. At the end of the nineteenth century, this then isolated farming village served as inspiration for none other than Vincent van Gogh. A little further on you drive through Oud-Aalden, an old esdorp that consists entirely of Saxon farms. In Gees you will see the largest boulder in Drenthe on the Dorpsstraat: it is almost four meters long and more than two meters high.

Scharreveld
You would almost forget, but Drenthe also has beautiful nature reserves. Just past Gees you drive through Boswachterij Gees, a quiet oasis of fens, heathlands and deciduous trees. Further on you drive past the Scharreveld, a mix of heathlands, fens and an open reclamation landscape. The Makkum mill is a flour mill from 1906. It was built as a successor to the last Drenthe standard mill that was blown down.

Orvelte Open Air Museum
When you drive through Orvelte, it seems as if you have ended up in an open-air museum. No wonder, because there are still many authentic farms in the almost thousand-year-old village. In addition, in a number of old buildings, residents show - sometimes for a fee - how sawyers, blacksmiths and glassblowers, for example, lived and worked in former times. Get off the bus and experience for yourself why car-free Orvelte always scores high on lists of the most beautiful villages in the Netherlands.