Put on your hiking boots and go: Buurserbeek & Heath Trail.

And as if that were not enough: you also pass a characteristic Los sleeve that has stood on this spot for centuries. Whether that is despite or precisely because of the defense signs against thunder god Donar remains to be seen.

BACK IN THE DAY

Without the Buurserbeek, the town of Haaksbergen might never have existed. Already around 800 BC the first inhabitants settled along the water that flows into our country at Buurse. Around 1400, the course is shifted to make a connection with the Schipbeek so that the Hanseatic city of Deventer becomes accessible. Small flatboats carrying clay, charcoal, brandy and linen, among other things, sailed to and fro. Meanwhile, neighbouring farmers use the water to irrigate their fields and housewives do their laundry. Large pieces of textile are bleached in the fields along the stream. But there is also plenty of swimming and rowing.

NOW

And thankfully that hasn't changed. You can still swim and rowing. However, the stream has recently been substantially refurbished and ready for a new era. For new climatic conditions and for restoration of nature. Thus the brook is allowed to meander through the landscape again and the steep unnatural banks have been made attractive to plants and animals. A number of weirs have given way to cascades of stones. The quays have been moved or improved so that the rapidly swirling water during heavy rainfall is diverted to storage areas. This prevents flooding in other places. Last but not least, fish species that have disappeared, such as grey mullet and bitter-chub, have returned.

THE HARREVELDER RAMP

You have to get off the path a bit and look closely to recognize the ancient contours of the entrenchment in the landscape. It was built in 1581. In the middle of the 80-year war. King Philip the Second of Spain had just then inherited all the counties and duchies in what is now the Netherlands. It is his personal mission to preserve as many citizens as possible for the Catholic faith. And that goes rather wrong with us. Instead, we want space for our Protestant views and an end to the difference between the rich churches and the poverty of the people. On the strategically located field entrenchment - close to the border and the water - soldiers entrenched themselves to stop the enemy.

LOS HOES - BOMMELAS

Inside this national monument, the place is just as it was back then With an open fire on the floor. With gaps for ventilation and doors that you can only enter or leave through bent down. It is the archetype of the so-called hallenhuistype, a farm type built between the 12th and 19th 19th century and was built a lot in Twente and the Achterhoek. Why is it called "Los hoes"? Man and animal lived in one space: the living area at the front and the stable at the back. Why this 'Los hoes' is called Bommelas? The occupant liked to party and was known as a rascal, 'oas' in Twents. This earned him the nickname 'boemel-oas', which became Bommelas. On top of the Bommelas you see two old signs that should ward off mischief such as thunder, lightning and sorcery. The gable sign (on the ridge of the roof) is a so-called "thunder broom. The step sign (on the center post of the barn doors) is in the shape of an hourglass. All in all, you are looking at a rather Twente scene including an old linden tree and a well with a haul: because of the leverage, retrieving a full bucket of water takes less force.

THE NEIGHBORING SAND

The name suggests a rather dry landscape but you can hardly get more varied and wetter. Enjoy jagged, rare juniper trees and rolling fields. Of happy little pools full of croaking frogs and oak forests full of woodpeckers and nuthatches. Besides being a popular setting on instagram, the Buursermeerje is also fine for a picnic. Did you know that there are few places where heather and heath grow side by side?

Restaurants along the way

• Start the route with a delicious slice of Twente Krentenwegge at Captain Jack, Broekheurnerweg 27 Buurse
• At De Wakel, the information center of Natuurmonumenten in the Buurserzand they serve delicious single apple tarts home made by the auxiliary farmers at care farm Erve Meyerinkbroek