Holiday apartment in Renkum – Nature, Mills and Airborne History

Renkum combines a varied landscape with impressive historical monuments and lively cultural offerings. The Renkums Beekdal forms a natural area stretching from the Veluwe to the Rhine floodplains. Differences in elevation, streams and wet meadows define the landscape. At the same time, the town and its immediate surroundings are home to places where the history of the Battle of Arnhem, Dutch painting and the tradition of mills come together.

Nature and landscape

A prominent feature of the Renkums Beekdal is the Papiermakersmonument on the Molenbeek. It stands near the intersection of Waterweg, Hartenseweg and Beukenlaan. Nearby Oosterbeek adds a historic park setting to the landscape with Park Hartenstein: the 11-hectare site is a Rijksmonument. It was laid out as a walking park around Huize Hartenstein in the English landscape style of the time and features a great variety of distinctive native and foreign trees.

These trees provide nesting and feeding sites for woodpeckers, bullfinches, nightingales, treecreepers and siskins. Various ANWB cycling and walking routes pass through Park Hartenstein. At the upper end of the Renkums Beekdal lies Landgoed Quadenoord, which covers 230 hectares. The estate is used by walkers, cyclists and horse riders. Sculpture workshops in serpentine are offered there for beginners and advanced participants.

Landgoed Duno also shows another side of the landscape. The varied estate includes forests, hills and floodplains. The surroundings of the house at Park Heidestein were laid out and planted in the early landscape style. Thus, within the regional landscape area, different forms of parkland, estate, stream valley and floodplain exist side by side.

Culture and history

At the Airborne Museum Hartenstein, the permanent exhibition presents the Battle of Arnhem day by day. In the Airborne Experience, visitors can follow in the footsteps of a British paratrooper and experience the Battle of Arnhem. Kasteel Doorwerth can be visited independently or with a guide; activities are also offered there. The medieval moated castle lies in the Rhine floodplains and has a complete moat as well as an outer bailey.

The Airborne Begraafplaats in Oosterbeek is a British military cemetery with more than 1,750 buried Allied service members. The cemetery features a Cross of Sacrifice with a bronze sword and a memorial stone bearing the inscription "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE". Another historical trace leads to the Oude Kerk Oosterbeek: there, visitors can listen to a film and an animated film about the history of the church with an English soundtrack. Guided tours for individual visitors as well as cycling and walking groups are available year-round on request.

The area’s art history is also evident directly on site. Oosterbeek, Renkum and Wolfheze together form the oldest artists’ colony in the Netherlands. Museum Veluwezoom presents changing exhibitions on the Oosterbeekse School, Pictura Veluvensis and Euro Art. In and around the centre of Renkum, there is also a permanent outdoor exhibition of paintings by the Renkumse Schilders, characteristic of the village.

Routes and events

Renkum has an extensive network of walking and cycling routes, with numerous special cycling routes in the town and its surroundings. The Airborne Wandeltocht offers a special combination of exercise and history. It takes place every year on the first Saturday in September. The walking day begins with an official parade and a minute of silence. After returning to Oosterbeek, there is music in the streets as well as a gathering in Sportpark Hartenstein and other locations in the village.

Mills

The Renkumse Molen is part of the region’s history. It was built in 1858 as a post mill at the highest point between the Heelsums Beekdal and the Renkums Beekdal. In 1911, it was raised to become a gallery Dutch windmill, heavily damaged in 1944 during Operation Market Garden and restored in 2013. The Renkumse Molen is open every Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00. The shop beneath the mill sells various types of flour and regional products.

The watermill of Quadenoord is provisionally open to the public once a month, as well as during the National Mill Days, Heritage Days and Gelderse Molendag. This means that two different mill histories stand side by side in Renkum: the restored Renkumse Molen with its shop and the Quadenoord watermill, which is open only on specific occasions.

Other places

Further town pages lead to Wolfheze, Oosterbeek, Heelsum and Doorwerth.

To the higher-level travel overview: Gelderland.

More destinations

More places in the same destination:

Tiel, Heerde, Neder-Betuwe, Heumen.