Cultural history in the Groningen polder

Groningen is known for its beautiful wide polder landscape with grassy meadows. You will also find small wierde villages with large farmhouses and surprisingly old churches.

The old Reitdiep area
After just a few kilometers you will experience the endless views and silence that you associate with Groningen. You cycle through the Reitdiep area, the oldest cultural landscape in Western Europe. This area has not known peat excavation and industrialization. More than 25 centuries of habitation and struggle against the water have created a landscape of wierden, dikes, locks and winding roads. In the autumn you can see large groups of lapwings and golden plovers passing through the meadows.

The rugged Onlanden
Around the Leekstermeer, the largest lake in Drenthe, you drive through rugged low moor areas in the valley between the higher Drenthe sandy soils and Groningen clay soils: the Onlanden. You have beautiful views of grasslands, but you also see bushes and hedgerows.