Garderen Travel Guide

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The present owners bought the buildings several years ago: the main house (a farmhouse), shed, bathroom and a well. The main house was build in 1867. All the buildings needed to be restored, which the owners did. They transformed it to its original standing - even the bathroom that was burned down.

The owners used to be vets when they bought the property. They made it to be a little farm with sheep and pigs. It all started with sheep. They had to learn all about them: how to feed them, milk them, etc: with good results and bad results. But from all mistakes you can learn new things.

These days there are about 30 sheep. The breed is a Dutch one (Frisian). The food they eat is oat and rye. Once a year the sheep go to a field where they can eat grass. A few times a day they are milked (milking time is between the end of February till early September). They are milked by a machine. The milk is conserved in a tank for 3 days. After these 3 days the milk goes to the cheese factory (which is a small building on the property). The raw milk is processed into farmers cheese. The time to mature is at least 6 weeks. When it is ready, it goes into a salty bath. Finally there will be a plastic layer over the cheese and it is complete. Twice a week the milk is processed to cheese.

Each year there are 2 or 3 lambs born on the farm. Some of the lambs are kept and the rest go to a butcher. Some of the meat they sell themselves.

This year they started to make their own yoghurt. It is a process that is still in the first phase. But what they have made so far (full yoghurt) is pretty tasty.

The cheese is sold at local markets from May through October.

In recent years the owners have started to breed pigs as well. They are a Dutch breed (Bonte Bentheimer). There are 5 pigs in total: 3 in one area and 2 in another area. The 2 who are separated, are in a breeding program. The owners are in debate as to whether the female one is pregnant (he says she is and she says she isn’t). If there are too many little ones, some will be kept at the farm and the rest will be sold to other farmers/people who like to have them as a hobby. The pigs will stay outside the whole year (even when it is -20C and snowy outside). In the cold temperatures they will get hay to lay on and the pigs will lay close to each other to stay warm. Sometimes the pigs go to the forest to whirl around the ground so plant spieces come up.

On Friday and Saturday afternoon (1.00pm till 3.30pm) there is a possibility to have a tour of this farm. In about an hour the story of the farm will be told. You will go with the guide to see the places mentioned in the story where it all happens. You can also taste a few different kinds of cheeses (young/fenugreek/chive/matured), At the end you will have a picnic basket and you can sit in one of the grasslands. In the basket you will find 2 sandwiches (one with cheese and the other one with Pears applestroop), a piece of fruit and a can of pear-apple juice. It is really nice to sit in the grasslands and have the picnic on a nice sunny day.

In The Netherlands reformations of the Roman Catholic church came swiftly and everywhere. Garderen became a centre of the turnaround that was initially brought by the great reformers like Martin Luther and Calvin (no, not Klein!). In Garderen Jan Gerritsz Verstege was known for it's work in this terrain. He brought the new religion to the Veluwe and started from Garderen. In front of the church a statue recalls his work in a remote area of The Netherlands, where - as you can see, also missionary work was done. Jan was chaplan hete from 1544 until 1549 and wrote a book about his days on the Veluwe, called "De Leeken Wechwijzer" (the roadsign for the unwise)

Far away from everything and still a centre of intrest. Garderen is for us Dutch one of the villages on the Veluwe where we would love to spend a family holiday. Especially with children, camping is great. For foreigners, except a load of German campers, the Veluwe is quite of the beaten path. One races to the national park and it's Kroller Muller-museum and back again to Amsterdam. A pitty, meeting the real Dutch is rather unlike in these bigger towns.

Favorite thing: Garderen is an isolated village in the Veluwe-hills. Halfway Arnhem and Harderwijk, it has it's own character and quite a few centuries of history. The village is now a popular destinations for thousands of tourists (often Dutch and some German) that enjoy the natural surroundings of Garderen. It's a great spot to start walks or bikingtours through the forests.

Fondest memory: Some memories yet have to be made