Holiday apartment in Heumen: Maas, Fens and Culture

Heumen is located on the Maas, immediately south of Nijmegen and on the border with Brabant and Limburg. The municipality includes a moraine landscape from the penultimate Ice Age; marshes, forests, heathlands and floodplains form its varied scenery. The area around the Hatertse en Overasseltse Vennen, the surroundings of Overasselt and Nederasselt, the hamlet of Worsum, the Maas floodplains with their Maasheggen hedgerows and the moraine slope north of Malden have been assigned the highest cultural-historical value. Local regional products can also be sampled in Heumen.

Nature

The Overasseltse en Hatertse Vennen cover 520 hectares and include around twenty fen lakes. They were formed approximately 10,000 years ago through the action of the Maas and Waal rivers. The landscape can be explored along various routes: Heumen offers a wide range of hiking and cycling routes, as well as numerous bridleways.

The Vennen hiking route is a 6.5-kilometre trail through the Overasseltse en Hatertse Vennen and is marked with yellow wooden posts. Along the route, the heathlands turn purple in summer. The partly paved Familiepad Heumensoord is suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. Another route, the Ommetje Bos en Kuil, leads through the forests of Heumensoord, along the Maas-Waal Canal and over an ancient Roman road.

Culture and History

The Sint Walrick ruins, a medieval chapel, are located along the Vennen hiking route. The Koortsboom stands next to Sint Walrick. Popular belief holds that a piece of cloth hung on the tree can cure illnesses. The blue route of the Heerlijkheden van Overasselt passes a 15th-century chapel associated with the Sint-Walrick monastery.

Heumen is also home to the cultural heritage of art and agriculture. The sculptor Jac Maris (1900–1996) lived in the Marishuis for 70 years. The Jac Maris studio museum is one of the few studio museums in the Netherlands. The De Lage Hof Agricultural Museum is housed in a monumental farmstead; its distinctive barns contain old machines and tools used by farmers and craftspeople.

The grounds of the Romeinse Wachttoren in Heumensoord contain the remains of a Roman watch post from the 3rd century. The Joannusmolen is a grain mill built by Joannus Jetten in 1894. It can be visited when it is operating, or by appointment with the volunteer miller.

Memorials and Events

The Heumen war memorial commemorates those who fell and were buried in 1944 in the temporary military cemetery at the Bergzicht estate in Heumen. A memorial behind the brewery in Molenhoek commemorates a temporary cemetery for 836 military personnel and members of the air forces from the United States and the United Kingdom. This temporary cemetery was located approximately 300 metres from the memorial in Molenhoek and was closed in May 1948.

The Liberation Route Heumen & Mook includes an audio station at the bridge in Heumen, where visitors can use their smartphones to listen to the story of its capture. Art is the focus of the Kunstroute Heumen. It takes place in Malden, Heumen and Overasselt; the 2026 edition was the ninth. The art route invites visitors to visit the gardens and studios of the participating artists.

Practical Information

The municipality of Heumen has published a mini-map with a practical town plan as well as the most important attractions and routes. You can access further destinations via the pages on Ubbergen, Aalten, Groesbeek, Beuningen, Ermelo and Rheden.

To the overview of the wider travel region: Gelderland.