Holiday apartment in Son en Breugel – Nature and Liberation Route

Son en Breugel combines a distinctive natural landscape with traces of local and wartime history. In the surrounding area, the Sonse Heide, owned by the municipality of Son en Breugel, and the approximately 250-hectare Nieuwe Heide in Best form a connected woodland and nature area east of Best's built-up area. The Sonse Heide still contains pine forests that are considered remnants of the landscape from before the land reclamation. The forest is also home to the large Oud Meer fen lake. Direct local navigation leads to Son En Breugel and Son.

Nature

The Natuurpad Oud Meer runs through the nature area around Oud Meer. A QR code can be scanned with a smartphone at the very start of the trail. It provides access to the walking route and information about the sights along the way. The tour includes activities and tasks for children to help them discover nature. The Natuurpad Oud Meer is considered accessible all year round. In addition, IVN Son en Breugel provides several local walks online that can be completed independently on foot.

Trails and Observations

A special combination of cycling and walking route is the IVN VroegeVogelWandeling, which is considered a long-standing tradition in Son en Breugel. In the surrounding area, it starts by bicycle at Pieter Brueghelplein and continues to the Mosbulten, where the walking route begins. Experienced birdwatchers help participants identify different bird calls.

The Son en Breugel–Sint-Oedenrode walking stage of the route commemorating Operation Market Garden is also one of the signposted trails. It is 25 kilometres long and bears Liberation Route signs beneath the regular junction signs. The Liberation Route Son en Breugel leads to places connected with the airborne landings of 17 September 1944 and Operation Market Garden. The area around Boerderij De Paulushoef was a landing zone for thousands of paratroopers and hundreds of gliders during Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944. The route is part of the Liberation Route Brabant, created by VisitBrabant and Brabant Remembers.

Culture and History

Several buildings and memorial sites make the development of the village visible through specific details. The Sint-Genovevakerk has an organ dating from 1854; its original stained-glass windows were restored in 2023. Of the former Sint-Petrus-Banden Church, only the tower remains after the devastating fire on 29 December 1958 and the demolition of the nave and choir in 1966. The Dommelhuis was built in 1959–1960 as the Petrus-Banden Church and features a 20-metre free-standing concrete span, described as exceptional for its time.

The La Sonnerie building complex consists of a main building that served as a monastery, a chapel and a school. Because of its commemorative value and its significance for the history of village life in Son in the 20th century, La Sonnerie has a high cultural and historical value. The Oude Raadhuis was restored and extended in 1920. The Vrieshuisje is regarded as a special expression of Son's socioeconomic development at the end of the 1950s: at that time, households did not yet have their own freezer and depended on a communal freezing facility.

Other architectural traces include the Mariakapel, built in 1950 and usually called the Vredeskapel, and the Roman Catholic presbytery at Sint-Genovevastraat 16, dating from 1890. Boerderij Wolfswinkel 1 has a thatched roof with a base of red Oud-Holland tiles on the left side façade and red pantiles on the right side façade. The Gedenkteken Pieter Breugel was unveiled in 1926 by Flemish writer Felix Timmermans.

On Site

If you park in the centre of Son en Breugel, a blue zone applies there. To park, a blue parking disc must be placed behind the windscreen.

Other destinations for regional orientation: Halderberge, Etten-Leur, Tilburg, Waalwijk, Eindhoven, Geldrop-Mierlo.

For the broader travel overview: North Brabant.