Rolde village square

Rolde is a lively village near Assen in the Dutch province of Drenthe. and has about 4,000 inhabitants. In the background is the Jacobus Church.

Waiting

Most farm lands here look like this at the moment: neat rows from which potatoes, corn, beets, .. , will be growing soon. This photo was taken last Sunday near the village of Rolde.

I'm linking to All Seasons.

Tulip fields

We don't have many 'bulb fields' in our part (the north east) of the Netherlands, so when we see one it´s a real treat and even more so when it happens unexpectedly, like yesterday during our hike. Aren't the bright red tulips beautiful?

This is just north of the village of Rolde, near Assen. If you look well you can see the Rolde church tower appearing above the trees on the right half of the photo.

Moo!

These somewhat angry looking cows..

..and this one fiercely shaking its head (NO NO I don't want to be photographed!!) were at the Balloohoeve in the small village of Balloo today, near Rolde. The Balloohoeve is a so-called 'care farm'. The purpose of care farming is to promote mental and physical health by giving vulnerable people the opportunity to spend time working on the land. Care farms can provide supervised and structured programs of farming-related activities, including animal husbandry, crop and vegetable production and woodland management. We see these farms a lot here in the Netherlands.

The Balloohoeve also sells locally produced products (including meat from its own livestock), serves coffee, tea and ice-cream, and even has a small campsite.

Storks

Not a totally rare sight around here but I always find them fascinating to see: storks on their nest. This particular pair near the village of Rolde was facing dark clouds when I took this photo.

Linking to Skywatch Friday.

sand carpet

A sand carpet ('zandtapijt' in Dutch) in the small but interesting regional museum 'Het dorp van Bartje' in Rolde.

piggy bank

This piggy bank was waiting for us at the exit of a small regional museum (with free entry) that we visited in Rolde recently. The most polite sign says: If you liked it all very much, you might donate a voluntary gift for the costs into the piggy bank.

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Dit spaarvarken met een erg beleefde tekst stond ons op te wachten bij de uitgang van een klein streekmuseum (met gratis toegang) in Rolde, dat we onlangs bezochten.

mass path

According to the sign on the photo below this is an old 'mass path', a path for pedestrians frequently used in rural areas where it was the connection between small villages and hamlets with the church. They date from a time when motorised transportation was not yet common. Many times these 'Sunday paths' crossed fields of neighbouring farmers, who where not always very pleased with those walking on their lands.

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Volgens het bord op de onderste foto is dit een oud 'kerkenpad', een voetgangerspad dat vroeger op het platteland de dorpen en gehuchten verbond met de kerk. Ze dateren uit de tijd dat gemotoriseerd verkeer nog niet gebruikelijk was. Vaak liepen deze paden, ook wel 'zondagse paden' genoemd, over het land van een boer, die lang niet altijd even gecharmeerd was van het feit dat men over zijn terrein liep.

This mass path is located in the area between the towns of Assen and Rolde.

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Dit kerkenpad vind je in het gebied tussen Assen en Rolde.