Thousands of years of culture in a fan of meandering streams Drentsche Aa LEGEND WORTH SAVING Natural Landscape boundary Lend a hand by making a donation National Park boundary Bicycle path Has the Drentsche Aa area stolen your heart too? You can help keep the area this beautiful by making a donation to the Drentsche Aa Area Fund Bicycle path (semi-paved) (Gebiedsfonds Drentsche Aa). Every contribution, large or small, is used for maintenance and, where necessary, for restoration of this beautiful landscape. You can transfer your contribution to IBAN: NL73 RABO 0129.0784.84 in the name of Stichting Gebiedsfonds Drentsche Aa. Bicycle route intersections Information More information? Go to www.gebiedsfondsdrentscheaa.nl. Dolmen Mill Car park Day recreation Bird watching blind Duck pen Sheep pen + i Museum Dolmen centre Drents Museum Tourist information Burial mound(s) Monument Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre View point Hotel/restaurant/bar Church tower Forests Heathland Meadow and field Natural meadow Stream valley Water Colophon Graphics Docucentrum, province Drenthe Cartography GIS/CAD, province Drenthe Photography NP Drentsche Aa archives National Landscape and National Perfect stream landscape Ballooërveld information centre ParkDrentsche Aa ‘Drentsche Aa’ is the name of a fan of The information centre near the sheep pen The Drentsche Aa basin (about 34,000 ha) is streams that eventually merge to form one in Balloo offers a presentation on the history, a National Landscape. The central section stream. Each stream also has its own local the environment and the sheep flock at (approximately 10,000 ha), more over, is name. While nearly all other streams in the Ballooërveld. You can see the sheep flock a National Park. It is the only area in the Netherlands have been straightened out, yourself daily at the sheep pen or at the Netherlands with this double status, which most of the Drentsche Aa streams still follow Ballooërveld. gives a good idea of just how special it is. The their old, meandering courses undisturbed. Address Crabbeweg 2, Balloo. Drentsche Aa area is a varied old cultural This makes the Drentsche Aa one of the Opening hours 1 March - 1 Nov: daily from landscape shaped by an age-old interplay of most valuable lowland streams in Europe. 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM; 1 Nov - 1 March: only agriculture and nature. on Saturdays and Sundays and during the Christmas holiday and spring half-term. Homanshof information centre in Anloo The Staatsbosbeheer information centre is one of the access gates to the Drentsche Aa National Park. It is housed at a characteristic farm in the historic centre of Anloo. There is an exhibition and a film on the Drentsche Aa landscape. Various marked walking routes also start here. Theesdorplandscape banks, beyond which lay the vast The old, typical “esdorp” landscape has also heathlands in days gone by. The been preserved along with the stream. The remnants of these are now inters- characteristic esdorpvillage includes one persed with fields, meadows and or more farmyards with old oaks and a few forests. windy roads bordered in a somewhat loose order by the historic farms. This classic view Profuse nature can be seen in Anloo, Taarlo, Grolloo and Elp The varied Drentsche Aa among other places. The common fields, the landscape is home to profuse “essen”, are traditionally on the highest land nature. The flowing, clean water Address Lunsenhof 20, Anloo, near the village. The meadowlands are found of the stream attracts many T. +31 (0)592 273061. in the low areas along the stream. The essen stream fish and dragonflies. Opening hours 1 April - 31 Oct: from 9:00 and stream valleys are flanked by wooded The meadowlands along the AM to 5:00 PM; 1 Nov - 31 March: from stream are famous for their 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed on Mondays. abundance of plants, including many rare species. All sorts of Boomkroonpad outdoor centre songbirds, woodpeckers and birds The Staatsbosbeheer outdoor centre at the of prey brood on the wooded banks Boomkroonpad in the Gieten-Borger forestry and in the forests. Other distinctive station has information on everything that plants and animals can be found on the is happening in nature in the forests and the heathlands and sand drifts as well as in rest of the surroundings. Various marked the meres. walking routes start here. Rich cultural history They were planted on former heathlands in There are vestiges of at least five thousand the crisis years in the thirties of the twentieth years of habitation in the Drentsche Aa century as part of the “unemployment relief National Landscape. No other area in works” to provide wood for mining and the Netherlands is so rich in prehistoric industry. They have evolved into popular remains; it includes as many as twenty recreational areas with outstanding natural dolmens. The prehistoric burial mounds beauty. are even more numerous: dozens can be found in the Strubben-Kniphorstbosch alone, the first archaeological reserve Address Steenhopenweg 4, Drouwen, in the Netherlands, just north of Anloo. T. +31 (0)592 377305. Recognisable cart tracks, marker stones, the Opening hours 1 April- 31 Oct: daily from oldest Saxon farms and the Anloo and Rolde 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; 1 Nov - 31 March churches date from the Middle Ages. The Sundays from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM; during four large forest complexes in the south of school holidays daily from 10:00 AM to 4:00 the National Landscape tell a fascina- PM. Closed on 25 and 31 Dec and 1 Jan. ting story of more recent history. For further information on Staatsbosbeheer go to www.staatsbosbeheer.nl. Walking and bicycling Live visitor network Website www.drentscheaa.nl Hikers and bicycle riders come into their own There is no central visiting centre in the The most complete and current summary of in the Drentsche Aa National Landscape. It Drentsche Aa area, but instead a so-called all activities in the Drentsche Aa area. The has a dense network of footpaths, bicycle live visitor network. It consists of small site also offers a great deal of background paths and quiet, partly unpaved roads. The unmanned information centres, information information on the area, its history, distinc- area is also very suitable for horseback posts at car parks and information points at tive features, management and recent riding, mountain biking and Nordic walking. Drentsche Aa hosts. These are local entre- developments. Dozens of walking and bicycle routes have preneurs such as farmers, shopkeepers and been plotted, a great number of them hotel, restaurant and bar owners, recogni- @NPDrentscheaa marked. Free walking and bicycling routes sable by the sign at the front entrance. can be downloaded by smartphone via www. They will also be happy to give you the www.facebook.com/drentscheaa annodrenthe.nu.Good starting points for a Op Stap-krant, a free information newspaper walk or bicycle ride include the three “access for visitors, with map and agenda. Other information (during office hours) gates” to the area - Tynaarlo, Anloo and General information Secretariat: Rolde with plenty of parking (see map). P.O. Box 122, 9400 AC Assen T. +31 (0)592 365 864/225 [email protected] www.drentscheaa.nl Information on education, communication and activities IVN Drenthe: P.O. Box 125, 9400 AC Assen T. +31 (0)592 371740.