Amsterdam Waterland
Cycling through the flat Dutch polder landscape with its old farmsteads and expansive fields is something the Dutch really like doing too. Through Het Land van Leeghwater, for example, with winding dikes, wonderful views and pyramidal ‘stolpboerderijen’ (traditional Dutch farmhouses in the shape of a cheese cover). For centuries the residents of this area battled against the water. Nowadays for the most part we can enjoy it.
The Land van Leeghwater
Het Land van Leeghwater largely consists of polder land, land below the sea level. Building and residing here are only possible thanks to the dikes and artificially keeping the water level low. This used to be done with hundreds of windmills, but today it is done using advanced pumping stations. With its ditches, canals, pastures and locks, the landscape has been excavated and rebuilt over the course of more than 1,000 years. Locks, roads and pastures were constructed in accordance with rigidly straight geometric principles and pretty much nothing of this has changed since the Golden Age. Reason enough for UNESCO to have added this area to their world heritage list.
The Beemster
World heritage site De Beemster is part of Het Land van Leeghwater and an oasis of green polders, waterways, 38 kilometres of dike, restored mills and beautiful stolpboerderijen. You’ll recognize these immediately – a square house with a pyramidal roof. Take a cycle trip round the best examples, including De Eenhoorn farm, one of the grandest and most imposing of the 350 stolpboerderijen. Nearby museum Betje Wolff in the old vicarage has various furnished period rooms. This will give you a glimpse into the life of this 18th-century writer. The little village of De Rijp is also called ‘Holland’s most beautiful village’. If you cycle, sail or walk through it, you’ll understand why.
Walking, cycling, sailing
This wonderful area has dozens of walking and cycle routes marked out. Even sailing trips with a silent
electric boat or canoe can be recommended. Tip: start your visit at the Beemster Infocenter for maps and hire a bike or boat. Another suitable starting point for your bicycle or boat trip is the picturesque village of Broek in Waterland. The name says it all – here there are more watercourses than roads. Nearby are the villages of Holysloot, Ransdorp and Durgerdam.
Tourist Information
VVV Beemster
Middenweg 185
tel: (+31) (0)299-621826
www.beemsterinfo.nl
VVV Agency Purmerend
Koestraat 6
tel: (+31) (0)20-2018800
www.vvvamsterdam.nl
One hundred percent countryside, and yet only half an hour’s bike ride from the centre of Amsterdam. Glorious to explore by bike.
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