{"id":119,"date":"2024-04-05T15:15:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T13:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/?page_id=119"},"modified":"2024-12-02T17:21:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:21:54","slug":"surroundings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/?page_id=119&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"The surroundings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The hamlet of White Horses (with the Pondemaat) is named after an old inn with that same name. It was a famous inn on an old road from North to South. It provided pleasure of all sorts for everyone \u2018on the road\u2019 in earlier times. The notion of \u2018white\u2019 seems to relate to that of a \u2018white elephant\u2019 or a \u2018white raven\u2019. It would imply a sign of luck, since such \u2018white\u2019 animals are rare. True or not, that is the story that we like to tell. Still, among other things, due to its location de Pondemaat can be called the high(est) point of Willemsoord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunset over cropfields across the road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our house as in a \u2018Christmas Carol\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A crispy snowy morning that radiates calmness and quiet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hamlet is situated between the towns of Steenwijk and Wolvega, and between the closer smaller towns of Steenwijkerwold (the forests of Steenwijk) en Willemsoord (the town of Willem, second king of the Netherlands).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spot where our now \u2018renewed\u2019 farmhouse stands was the place of an old small farmhouse where landless city people were given a plot of land, some two hundred years ago (www.welkomtoenwelkomnu.nl<\/a>). It was development thinking based on what is known as \u2018the enlightenment era\u2019. The settlement constituted a rural development scheme which has partly become UNESCO world heritage. Remains of that era are still clearly visible around our \u2018farm\u2019 and in the neighbouring town of Willemsoord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A small farmstead such as this one must have preceded the larger farm \u2018Pondemaat\u2019 where we have settled<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The old inn of \u2018White Horses\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The \u2018White Horses\u2019 in modern times, villas replacing the inn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The church of Willemsoord. On the foreground a neat monument to commemorate 200 years of \u2018settlement colony\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The one and only pub in Willemsoord, once residence of the director of the colony, now a perfect place for \u2018wining and dining\u2019 (www.eetcafedesteen.nl<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three-country point<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A three-country point (or rather \u2018three province point) is where three provinces meet (Friesland, Drenthe and Overijssel). For those who know the country it is the easiest way to locate White Horses and Willemsoord on a larger map. That \u2018meeting point\u2019 itself lies some six kilometers behind the Pondemaat, between forests and farmland on the edge of an old medieval estate (https:\/\/www.deeese.nl<\/a>\/).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The landscape<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All this implies that we live in an area where different landscape types come together, with their associated differences of histories. To the North one finds the Friesians and the Stellingwerfs in both upland and lowland areas areas. To the East live(d) descendants mainly of the Saxons, often on higher sandy soils. To the South one finds the mainly lower lands of people that \u2018belonged\u2019 to the bishops of Utrecht. We like to talk and hear more about these \u2018things of the past\u2019 as well as about the future of these lands and people. We are concerned about the place of rural communities in overall development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The old sea dike some 15 km from,White Horses (left), the town of Giethoorn at some 12 km (centre) and heather lands on the higher sandy soils 10 km to the East<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Big boulders lie around ‘de Pondemaat’, brought in by glaciers from Scandinavia. Also, remains of mammoths are found, while deer and nowadays even wolves are part of modern local wildlife (http:\/\/www.theehuis-tuk.nl<\/a>\/) to the East behind the Pondemaat. To the South, sort of facing \u2018de Pondemaat\u2019, the landscape slopes down some 10 meters (the glacier\u2019s morraine) with a very special old agricultural landscape, \u2018carved\u2019 by mixed farming systems. It is a beautiful landscape from an agricultural history point of view. From that slope one has a view of the lake area around Giethoorn, with peat plains used for grass- and cropland but also with much reclaimed nature land and wildlife (https:\/\/www.visitweerribbenwieden.com<\/a>). To the Northeast one crosses a varied landscape with restored nature, old peat lands and crop lands, the Friesian forest region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The direct surroundings of the home are special too. Easy to reach by highway or cycling roads, with pastures and\/or cropland on all sides and with forests very near by. The garden fits in quite well with those surroundings, especially (of course) in summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grandchildren after harvesting sweetcorn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A(nother) granddaughter in tall grass of the yard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Part of the flowergarden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Steenwijk town<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Steenwijk itself is an old settlement that controlled East-West traderoutes from Germany to the old port of Staveren (then situated on the sea coast) a 1000 years ago. In the later middle ages Steenwijk was an important base for the Utrecht Bishop, to control the swampy Northern areas. Later the town became important in the control of South-North routes. No wonder that is was the fourth important city that was fought over between the new republic and (then) Spanish rulers. That was after the sieges of Leiden, Haarlem and Alkmaar when the 80-years war was fought (1568-1648). Contours of the fortress city are still very much present in Steenwijk and in nearby coastal towns like Blokzijl. The swampiness of the area also invited religious refugees such as Anabaptists (and\/or Mennonites). And the Clemens church in Steenwijk was even a beacon for sailors at sea. The coastal areas still clearly bear evidence of a history with pirates, fishermen and floods, a great area for touring by cycle and on foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Witness of the \u2018golden age and the struggle with the sea\u2019, with left old merchant houses in Oldemarkt, centre remnants of an old pirate castle and to the right the old St-Clemenskerk in Steenwijk which can be climbed (and with inside a watertower)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The hamlet of White Horses (with the Pondemaat) is named after an old inn with that same name. It was a famous inn on an old road from North to South. It provided pleasure of all sorts for everyone \u2018on the road\u2019 in earlier times. The notion of \u2018white\u2019 seems to relate to that of… Lees verder The surroundings<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-119","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions\/348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondemaat.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}