Friesewold

Description

• The starting point is in the village of Doldersum. Doldersum is an esdorp in the municipality of Westerveld, in the province of Drenthe. The village has a population of around 120. Doldersum is situated north-west of Dwingeloo and north-east of Vledder. Doldersum borders the Drents-Friese Wold National Park. The Vledder Aa, the stream near Doldersum and the Doldersummerveld, a heathland area managed by the Het Drentse Landschap foundation, form part of that park. The upper reaches of the Vledder Aa were restored in 2002 and 2003. The stream, which had been channelled in the early 1960s, has been restored to its original course. The rich topsoil has been stripped away. Nature is now set to reclaim the area between Doldersum and Wateren.
• The first village you pass through is Zorgvlied. Zorgvlied is a village in the municipality of Westerveld and was part of Diever until 1998. It lies north-west of Diever and north-east of Vledder. More specifically, it lies north-west of Wateren and north of Doldersum, right on the border between Drenthe and Friesland.
• The place takes its name from the defunct Huize Zorgvlied property. Zorgvlied lies in the working area of the Maatschappij van Weldadigheid, founded in 1818. Also in that year, the organisation's Agricultural Institute was built here. Here, civil servants were trained for managerial positions within the Maatschappij to transform the poor from the towns in the colonies into small farmers. in 1859, the school was dissolved and sold to De Ruyter de Wildt, a descendant of Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter. The building later came into use as a guest house. After a thorough renovation in 1978, it now consists of four homes for the elderly, next to the current Catholic church.
  Today, Zorgvlied is mainly a recreational village, with a few campsites in the area.
• If you continue on your way, you will arrive at Langedijke. Langedijke is a village in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf, in the Dutch province of Friesland.
  The village originated along a road lined with several farms standing close together. The name (literally ‘long road’) still refers to this. It is also home to one of Friesland’s ‘Klokkentstoelen’. It houses a bell dating from 1300; presumably the oldest bell in Northern Europe. The bell may have come from a remote monastery that once stood near Langedijke.
  The village itself was first mentioned in 1408 as Langedijc. In 1500, it was recorded as Laigedick and had become a parish in its own right. By 1640, there were 12 farms with the right to vote on matters of justice within the village area.
• As well as the village, it also comprised the hamlets of Klokhuis and De Dijk, but these are no longer regarded as separate places. Klokhuis was situated on the Steenmaatsdijk and the northern tip of the Klokhuisdijk, which merges into the hamlet of Laagduurswoude. De Dijk comprised the settlement on the Iegepoeldijk, which lies in the southern extension of the village and merges into the hamlets of De Bult and Terwisscha.
• You will then arrive at the village of Oosterwolde. Oosterwolde is a village and, since 1886, the administrative centre of the municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the Dutch province of Friesland. The village is situated five kilometres from Appelscha. The Opsterlandse Compagnonsvaart, which forms part of the Turfroute, cuts through the village, which originated from the merging of a few village greens. Of these, the Oostenbrink is the best preserved. In the 19th century, Oosterwolde developed mainly along the canal, where most of the industrial activity took place.
• The stream valleys and sand ridges around Oosterwolde were home to hunter-gatherers from the end of the Old Stone Age, the Late Palaeolithic period. Small campsites with hearths and flint artefacts have been found along the Tjonger near Jardinga and Lochtenrek. Lochtenrek is the area near an old crossing point over a meander of the Tjonger between Oosterwolde and Makkinga. Since 2017, Lochtenrek has been the name of a bridge on the N381 crossing the Tjonger.
• The last village you pass through is Fochteloo. Fochteloo is a village in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf, in the Dutch province of Friesland. It lies to the east of Oosterwolde and to the north of Appelscha. The place name may refer to ‘the damp forest’ that used to be located there. Since the 1930s, a labour camp had been established near Fochteloo as part of a job-creation scheme: Camp Ybenheer. During the Second World War, in the course of 1942, this camp was used by the German occupying forces as a labour camp for male Jewish workers, under the auspices of the Reich Labour Expansion Service. It was cleared on the night of 2–3 October of that year. All 215 camp inmates were transported to Camp Westerbork, and from there to Auschwitz and Sobibór.
• After the Second World War, the camp was used to house Moluccan KNIL soldiers and their families. Once they had been provided with permanent accommodation, the camp was temporarily used as a base and training ground for the Dutch army. Both camps were subsequently transferred to Natuurmonumenten, which has managed the sites ever since.
• On 2 October 2002, a memorial was unveiled at the site of the former Ybenheer camp to commemorate the camp. Of Camp Oranje, only the former roll call area remained as a reminder of the camp. In 2019, the camps were made accessible and fitted out with information for visitors, including those using wheelchairs or walking frames.
• Afterwards, you return to Grenzeloos and can take a look at the visitor centre Grenzeloos Doldersum for even more information.