Groningen: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

The Wadden Sea coast of Groningen offers wide views, robust dikes, species-rich salt marshes and a landscape that constantly changes with the tides. When the mudflats have fallen dry, you can walk on the seabed of the Wadden Sea. This places the coastal landscape and the tides directly alongside one another: the solid lines of the dikes, the open expanses of the salt marshes and the mudflats, whose condition changes with the water.

Nature

The area of Lauwersmeer National Park also bears the traces of a varied landscape history. In the past, there was an open connection to the Wadden Sea. Fearing floods, a dam was built there in 1969, after which a new landscape developed. Lauwersmeer National Park can be explored on foot, by bicycle and by boat. This means that different forms of travel exist side by side within this natural area, without the landscape being limited to a single perspective.

The WEC is an interactive experience for young and old. At the WEC field station, visitors can collect data themselves, conduct experiments and study organisms. They can also track coastal birds at the WEC. The combination of observation, personal investigations and engagement with coastal birds gives the WEC several thematic points of access.

Cycling

The Groningen cycling network comprises hundreds of kilometres of cycle paths throughout the province. One long-distance route is the LF Kustroute, which connects the two natural areas of Lauwersmeer and Dollard in Groningen. The route thus creates a connection between two explicitly named natural areas and adds to the opportunities for exploring Groningen by bicycle.

History and Culture

At Vesting Bourtange, the historic year 1742 can be experienced in an authentic way. The fortress includes a defensive structure commissioned by Willem van Oranje. Vesting Bourtange also offers an interactive AR tour. A large part of Vesting Bourtange’s historic buildings and ramparts is accessible to wheelchair users.

The centuries-old Fraeylemaborg in Slochteren houses a museum and forms part of an estate with a unique park. Visitors can visit the Fraeylemaborg museum and stroll through the estate’s unique park. The Fraeylemaborg park is open all year round from sunrise to sunset, except on event days. The museum, estate and park thus form the three clearly named components of this site.

Museum Borg Verhildersum presents the history of Groningen on the Wadden Sea coast from the perspectives of the nobility, farmers and agricultural labourers. The open-air museum Het Hoogeland conveys an impression of everyday life around 1900 through historic buildings, most of which are still in their original locations. Both museums focus on history, but with different emphases: social perspectives on the Wadden Sea coast in one case, and historic buildings and everyday life around 1900 in the other.

Menkemaborg was built in the 14th century and opened as a museum in 1927. From Groningen, it can be reached by train in the direction of Roodeschool to Uithuizen station; from there, it is a ten-minute walk. Behind the Schathuis, the former farm next to Menkemaborg, there is a formal kitchen garden with beds for vegetables and herbs. The designation as a former farm belongs to the history of the Schathuis; the garden is described by its formal layout and its beds for vegetables and herbs.

Areas

Other areas: Bellingwedde, De Marne, Pekela, Oldambt, Grootegast, Appingedam, Bedum, Delfzijl, Eemsmond, Groningen, Haren, Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Leek, Loppersum, Marum, Menterwolde, Slochteren, Stadskanaal, Ten Boer, Veendam, Vlagtwedde, Winsum, Zuidhorn.

To the higher-level travel overview: Netherlands.