Groningen often seems far away and unfamiliar. But once here, many fall head over heels in love with the countryside and the villages. Countless people from the Randstad and city dwellers in Groningen have already fallen for it. One such person is Mayke Zandstra, who lives with her partner on the beautiful Enne Jans Heerd farm.
Mayke Zandstra (38) moved to the Hogeland with her young family in 2018. She and her partner Gijs were given the opportunity to set up a place there dedicated to experiencing nature and culture. The listed farmhouse Enne Jans Heerd came their way quite by chance. The Hogeland really is her home. “I’ve moved house at least twenty times in my life, but whatever I was looking for, I’ve found it here.”
The picturesque village of Stitswerd
''The Hogeland is a lover's landscape, pure and open. When it storms and rains, it storms and rains really hard here. And in spring nature explodes. You can really see the area's rich history everywhere. You will find countless picturesque villages here. One of the most beautiful I think is Stitswerd. It lies on a high mound - outside the village you notice that it slopes down a few metres. Sometimes I think: it's actually nice that few people know about this area. But on the other hand, if only they knew what you can find here.''
Tip: Abelstok Wood
''Another special place on the Hogeland is the Abelstok forest, just above Mensingeweer. I first came there one summer evening, on my racing bike. It was about nine o'clock and it was already starting to dusk. Abelstok is a fairy-tale forest with overgrown fruit trees and low branches, which you sort of whirl through. I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Precisely because the rest of the landscape here is so open, a forest like this has something magical.''
The dyke at Westernieland
''In the Hogeland you can really clear your head. You always see a distant horizon. I recommend you just sit somewhere on a verge or on a bench. Just look 360 degrees around you, take in how beautiful it is. You really do have to pause for a moment to appreciate it. If you glide through it, you might think there is nothing here. Some places are like that, there is nothing there either, but that's just it. The other day I went with my youngest son to the dyke near Westernieland on a beautiful day. There was nobody there at all. It was completely quiet. At times like that I feel rich to have such a place in my surroundings. You really unwind here.'' See more places where you can go to the dike.
