Middag-Humsterland
Unspoilt countryside with a rich history
The green Westerkwartier is home to the Netherlands’ oldest cultural landscape: the Middag-Humsterland National Landscape. This is where the sea once flowed between the islands of Middag and Humsterland, and where people have lived on settlement mounds since the Iron Age. When you visit this unspoilt landscape today, the winding roads, the sweeping countryside, the meandering ditches and the still-preserved wierden all bear witness to its rich history.
High and dry
Even before the Common Era, sandbanks beneath the Wadden Islands developed into salt marshes covered in salt marsh grass. An ideal place for the first settlers and their sheep and cows. The only drawback was that the salt marshes were often flooded with seawater. To be able to live in places that were regularly flooded, they built wide mounds around the turn of the first millennium. On these mounds, the inhabitants could live high and dry. As the sea deposited ever more layers of silt on the mounds, the settlement mounds grew ever higher. These ‘wierde’ villages are perhaps the most distinctive part of Groningen.
Through creeks and channels
The Lauwerszee was formed in the year 800 following a number of major sea inrushes. The water flowing inland from the Lauwerszee via side channels cut through the land of Middag-Humsterland. The salt water gushed through creeks and channels here. This is how the two peninsulas, Middag and Humsterland, were formed. Between 1200 and 1700, the channels separating the two islands from the mainland gradually disappeared. Middag and Humsterland became one again. Today, the curved shapes of the ditches and narrow roads serve as a reminder of the now silted-up tidal channels between the islands.
Traces of the past
The fact that Middag-Humsterland is the oldest cultural landscape in the Netherlands is still clearly visible. The winding ditches and roads, the sweeping landscape and, of course, the various mound villages. In many places, these villages have remained an integral part of contemporary life. Winding cobbled paths lead you to the historic centre. Often, this is still the beating heart of the village, with its little shops and a village pub. And even though nothing remains of the first churches in Middag-Humsterland – which were built of wood, thatch and clay – A sturdy medieval church often still stands proudly in the centre of the village.
A journey back in time
A residential mound in the Middag-Humsterland mound landscape that is definitely worth visiting is Niehove. Formerly the capital of Humsterland. Seen from above, Niehove is like a spider's web. All roads lead to the centre of the village. Walking along the narrow church paths, you imagine yourself back in time. Because as you stand here among the red-brick houses, so it was here centuries ago. Besides the mound villages, there is much more to discover in Middag-Humsterland. The wonderful landscape allows you to cycle, walk and look around for miles across vast meadows with historic farms, stately borgen and robust churches.
