Zandeweer

Photo taken last Sunday during our hike when we passed through the small and charming village of Zandeweer, in the Hogeland region of the province of Groningen.The mill in the background is called "Windlust" and is a corn mill from 1818.

I am linking to Weekend Reflections. Enjoy your weekend!

The Helper

Polder mill De Helper (The Helper) is located on the east shores of Lake Paterswolde and -until the 1960s- helped to regulate the water level in the nearby Helpman polder. It is not the original location where the mill was built however; when the construction of highway A28 started in 1969 it had to move, so it was demolished and rebuilt here.

The mill is in operation on a voluntary base every now and then.
PS. The Helper mill is also on my header photo, these photos were taken on the same day.

De Vlijt mill

Today's photos were taken from the Steamboat Quay in Meppel  -the boat you see on the right is (yes, once more :) ) the pancake ship. The mill in the background is called "De Vlijt" ("The Dilligence" in English), a smock mill in Meppel. It was rebuilt in 2002 on the octagonal brick base of a tower mill from 1859 that had been taken out of use in 1933.

In Dutch we call this type of mill a 'achtkante stellingmolen'. While googling for some more information I read that the base of the mill is used as living accomodation and office space, so it's not open to the public. The official De Vlijt website (in Dutch) can be found HERE.

The river IJssel

The city of Deventer is mainly situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, from where this photo was taken. Only a few houses are on the west bank.

View from the dike..

..near the village of Petten, along the Dutch North Sea coast.

Dike and Dollard

Our hike yesterday went partly along the Dollard, a bay in the Wadden Sea which forms the border between the (northern part of the) Netherlands and Germany. Most of it dries at low tide, which was obviously the case when we were there.

Lots of sheep on the dike and at some points we had to zigzag between their droppings ;)

I'm linking to All Seasons.

Sunday hike

After a few rainy days, today was sunny and nice. We made a 14 km walk in the rural Westerwolde region, which is nearby our home town. The path went partly along the German border, the corn fields and windmills across the water are in Germany.

And the road we were on here was called ´Groentje´, meaning ´freshman´ or ´rookie´. A funny name for a road :)

At the Danish westcoast

After an early morning arrival by ferry in the north of Denmark we drove a beautiful route along the westcoast..

.. stopped for coffee at a roadside restaurant..

.. and had a look at the beach. There was a lot of wind that day!

Drainage-mill

On the other side of the wooden bridge that I showed you in yesterday´s post is a drainage-mill (poldermolen in Dutch) called 'De Boezemvriend', that as one word could be translated as 'buddy' or 'soulmate' however in Dutch 'boezem' also means 'drainage canal' - so it's a pun.

The mill was built in 1871 to help pump water out of the polder to another level, the building next to it is a pumping-station. In 1990 the mill was renovated and is still operational today. On the grass an old wooden screw pump (vijzel or waterschroef in Dutch) is displayed; placed inside a mill and rotating it 'screws' the water up. They were a replacement for scoop wheels.

Bruges mills

 On the remains of the old city fortifications of Bruges, that date from 1297, 4 wooden mills can be found at a section called 'Kruisvest'. It's part of a lovely walking route of about 9 km at which you also pass the old city gates. (more about those later). I loved this Autumn view with the sunlight on the leaves.

Watching from one mill to the next with the sun on our backs.

To see a full view of the St Janshuis Mill from a previous stay in Bruges click HERE.

I'm linking to Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

The flying mill

Photo taken at the TT Balloon Festival in Assen last month. "Anno 1990" means "Of the year 1990".

X

One more photo of De Witte Molen, The White Mill near the villages Glimmen and Haren, as it looks so well against that blue sky (see my previous post HERE).
So, last week's cold weather with rain, snow and hailstorms have all been forgotten with the sunny and warm conditions we're having now. Hope the weather at your place is as good as ours!

I'm linking to Skywatch Friday.

The White Mill

De Witte Molen ("The White Mill") is a so-called polder mill near the village of Glimmen, just south of Groningen city. A polder mill pumps water from one level to another level. The mill can still be used as back-up in the Glimmen polder, which actually happens every now and then.

The White Mill was built in 1892 by P. Medendorp, in order to pump the 453 hectares of the Glimmen polder dry. In 2003 the mill was fully renovated. Nowadays the Hunze en Aa's Water Board owns the mill.
Note that if you travel to Groningen city by car coming from the south on highway A28, you can see the mill when you look to the left near the exit "Haren".

Both photos were taken yesterday, the weather was really beautiful. I'm linking to Seasons on St Germain's blog, and Tom´s Tuesday´s Treasures.

Nature here, industry there

A photo from a few weeks ago with a view across the Dollard Bay to the coast of Germany. Nature on our side, industry on the German side.

Norg and De Hoop

This is a photo from Sunday a week ago, taken during a hike near the village of Norg with a view on a mill named 'De Hoop' ('The Hope'). Built in 1857 it was originally a barley mill. In 1878 De Hoop was converted to a corn mill; during WW2 it was needed to to produce flour to feed the people of Norg.
After several owners and restorations, the mill turned for the last time on 24 August 1996. A year later the Drenthe Mills Society bought De Hoop, and they restored it to full working order again in 2000. The sails are quite special, in fact this is the only windmill in the Netherlands fitted with so-called Bilau sails.

I'm linking to St Germain's Blog and Seasons.

Skywatch Friday

Windmills and dark skies at the north coast of Groningen, seen during our hike last Sunday. We were lucky to have no rain though as it just passed us.

I´m linking to Skywatch Friday.

S..

..or Z? Up to you :)
View from the dike near Termunten over the Dollard Bay, yesterday afternoon. The windmills across the bay are in Germany. So this is literally the edge of the Netherlands!

Soestdijk Palace watermill

The Soestdijk Palace watermill was built in 1680 and is one of the oldest in the Netherlands. It is located in the park behind Soestdijk Palace (which was the home of King Willem-Alexander's grandparents for many years).
Originally it was a combination of water tower and wind-watermill, and there was a grain mill in the tower as well. The water inside the water tower was meant for 2 fountains in the gardens, and with the power the mill created the water was then able to 'reach' the fountains.

Nowadays the Palace shop can be found inside the large round tower. The entrance to the shop however, is clearly a mix of (very) old and new!

lace patterned fence

Following up on yesterday's post about the Sint-Janshuismolen (the Saint-John's house mill) in Bruges, this is a detail of the fence with the pattern.

Sint-Janshuismolen

The Sint-Janshuismolen (Saint John's house mill) is one of in total 4 mills near the old city centre of Bruges. This one, seen from the backside here against this morning's sky, was built in 1770 and was restorated  in 2001. The fence around it has a pattern that can be recognised from Bruges lace, one of the things the city is famous for. I will show you a close up of the fence tomorrow.