Assen Off The Beaten Path

In the small village Witten, 5 KM west of Assen, you can find three traditional Saxon farmerhouses. Two are a national monument (cultural heritage).

The one at the street Witterzomer 1 has the doors of the barn (baanderdeur) a at the side and the one at Witterhaar (picture) has the doors of the barn at the back of the builiding.
A part of this farmerhouse orginates from 1750.

As child I lived at the street Witterzomer and visited the primary school at the Witterhaar, just opposite the Saxon farmerhouses.
So I knew the inhabitants in those days and visited the farmhouses several times.
Nowadays you can hardly see them from the street because of the abundant green.

Germany is very nearby. Cities like Aken and other places near the border are often very nice. You can discover there houses like the ones on the picture. In Dutch we call them 'vakwerkhuisjes' but I don't know how I can translate that word in English. It are a kind of cottages made of stone and wood.

In this park you can see what life was like some hundred years ago in South-East Drenthe.

Het Veenpark
Berkenrode 4
Barger-Compascuüm
tel. 0591-324444

Open:
April 2002 - June 2002 daily 10am - 5pm
july 2002 & August 2002 daily 10am - 6pm

Entrance
9 Euro per person
Children under 4 free entrance.

How to get there
By car: Amsterdam, Amersfoort, Zwolle, Hoogeveen, direction Emmen, leave at Barger-Compascuüm (South-East of Emmen), follow the signs Veenpark

By train: End of line Zwolle to Emmen continue at busline 45, ask for Veenpark Bargercompas

Dutch treveling info 0900-9292

Near Emmen you will find this abandoned factory and villa, like I imagine you will suspect in a large country where not every square inch is build on!

But here the local youth makes the building colorfull!

I will make some more :)

Between the Drents Museum and the court there is a very small street, called the Kloosterstraat. This is one of the most beautiful places of Assen.

However it is a passage to the center of the town it can be very peaceful and quiet here. The street is not that long but it is nice to have a look here.

like some other things in some other towns, assen has it's special side but is sadly way of the beaten track for most foreign visitors. The town lays too far from the popular places such as Amsterdam and The Hague and also is overshaded regionally by Groningen. But as said, here too are special things, such as the "Verkeerspark Assen", an attraction park where children rule the roads in special carts. This place will surely be visited by us inthe near future as our Ilja is crazy about driving.