The Netherlands may be small and one of the most densely populated places on earth, but it’s got plenty of natural attractions. Last lesson we looked at Dutch beaches. Now it is the turn of the wilder places.

Lesson 52: Eight places to escape to

Here are some of the best places to get away from it all – just ignore the odd Highland cow or military training exercise.

Schiermonnikoog

The island of Schiermonnikoog (‘Schier’ is Middle Dutch for ‘grey’ and refers to the colour of the habit of the Cistercian monks who cultivated the island in the 15^th century, while ‘eye’ is another word for ‘island’)) is one of the six Dutch Wadden Islands and packs a lot of landscapes  – beach, dunes, woods, salt marsh, tidal flats  – into its 5,400 hectares. Only the locals are allowed cars on the island, so either rent a bike or walk, or take the bus from the ferry.

Schiermonnikoog is home to over 300 kinds of bird, hundreds of different plant species, including nine types of orchid, and has a permanent population of 942 which quadruples in the summer months. The place to stay on the island is the Van der Werff hotel: faded grandeur but with log fires in winter and you might spot the odd royal or celeb. Be aware that ferries tend to get cancelled in high winds during the winter months because of the risk of getting stuck on the mud flats.

Hoge Veluwe

The beauty of some of the Dutch national parks is that they offer something for everyone. Take the Hoge Veluwe national park in the province of Gelderland. It’s a haven for nature lovers but also caters for those on whom the excitement of the call of the rare lesser spotted whatsit is lost. The park’s 5,400 hectares also house the Kröller-Müller museum, named after the wealthy couple who originally came up with the idea of combining culture and nature in their grounds.

The crisis of the 1920s put the whole project in doubt, but in 1935 a solution presented itself: the grounds were turned into a foundation and – thanks to a loan from the state – became a national park. This means you have to pay to get in, although the the park’s 1,700 white bikes are free to use. The museum and its sculpture garden are a delight and so is the Jachthuis Sint Hubertus, the hunting lodge whose architect Hendrik Berlage became so exasperated at the Kröller-Müllers’ frequent interference with his design that he left in a huff.

Oosterschelde

The Oosterschelde national park in the province of Zeeland measures 37,000 hectares, making the largest in the country. The Netherlands being the Netherlands (i.e. small and practical), nature and trade live side by side. The Oosterschelde sea arm is an important shipping route, with some 45,000 ships carrying cargo, most of which are potentially disastrous for the thousands of birds which come to roost on its tidal flats.

The Zeeland mussel farms produce lovely fat – but non-fattening – mussels when there is an ‘r’ in the month, which must be paired with equally fat and calorific Belgian frites. The Oosterschelde storm surge barrier was the last part of the Delta project to be finished and one of the most fascinating attractions of the park is the museum dedicated to the 1953 flood which prompted this ambitious undertaking.

The Watersnoodmuseum in Ouwekerk is housed in four concrete Phoenix caissons, the type used to close the breached dikes. It has a wealth of photo and film material which show the devastating impact of the spring tide as it engulfed people, animals and farms on that catastrophic night of February 1.

De Zoom-Kalmhoutse Heide

The  Zoom-Kalmhoutse Heide straddles the border between the Netherlands and Flanders. Its website is positively lyrical, almost certainly due to the input of the more poetic Belgians: ‘When the weather turns dry and sunny the ripe pine cones explode and release their winged seeds. The black woodpecker’s ‘krukrukru’ echoes through the glades and the mating call of the buzzards reverberates among the trees. The woodlark marks his territory with his sweet-sounding ‘lululu’’…

The park, now some 6,000 hectares in size, was divided in 1843 when the Netherlands and Belgium became separate countries. All its landscapes – bogs, heath, pinewoods – are man-made.

The woods, mostly on the Dutch side, were planted in the 19^th century to provide fuel for factories and supports for mine shafts. The border also runs through the grounds of the Ravenhof-Moretusbos estate. Castle Ravenhof, a baroque pile built in 1710, is in Belgium while its extensive park and woods are on the Dutch side.

Oostvaardersplassen

Nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen is part of the “new” province of Flevoland, and much of it is closed to the public. It was created decades ago when the islands now home to Almere and Lelystad were created and its marshy ground is now a rich source of wildlife.

Deer and horses are allowed to shape the marshy landscape. They are left to ‘live naturally’ which means they are not fed in times of food shortages, another controversial aspect which highlights the challenges of wildlife management in the Netherlands.

A few years ago there were major disputes over culls, which are now in place to keep the deer and horse population manageable.

The reserve has also become a breeding ground for sea eagles and ospreys have also been spotted.

Lauwersmeer

National Park Lauwersmeer in the province of Groningen (6,000 hectares) is another result of the Dutch keeping a wary eye on the sea. In 1969, a dam was built separating the then Lauwers sea from the Wadden sea in order to reduce the threat of flooding.

The local fishermen were less than pleased to have to swap Zoutkamp harbour for Lauwersoog and reportedly flew the flags at half-mast when queen Juliana came to inspect the new dam.

The Lauwersmeer, now a freshwater lake, and the surrounding area became one of Western Europe’s most important bird sanctuaries. Recently the park has had some success encouraging sea eagles to nest there. The peace and tranquillity is broken every so often by military exercises in neighbouring Marnewaard.

The park has a number of landscapes each with its own particular flora. One of the best parts is Miss Ali’s patch, a piece of land named after a biologist who researched the plants in the area. In May and June the southern marsh orchids abound there and if you’re lucky you may spot the rare musk orchid.

De Grote Peel

National Park De Grote Peel, on the border of Brabant and Limburg, is one of the few national parks that has no main roads, pylons or other structures to spoil the view.

The park is a continuous stretch of raised bogs, a type of landscape of which just 4,000 hectares remain. The bogs used to take up 300,000 hectares and the resulting peat was used for fuel for centuries. In the 19^th century peat began to be used on an industrial scale and by the 1930s reserves were all but depleted.

Peat cutting was a seasonal job and winter was a time of hardship for the workers. The endless boggy landscape gave rise to many stories. Will- o’-the-wisps (perhaps burning swamp gas), said to be the souls of dead children, would lure the unwary traveller into a labyrinth of paths to a certain death and it was said a Roman soldier drowned in the bog, his only legacy the gold and silver helmet found many centuries later by a peat cutter. It is thought the helmet was probably a 4^th century votive offering.

Zuid-Kennermerduinen

The national park Zuid-Kennemerduinen in the province of Noord-Holland is just a hop and a skip away from Amsterdam and busy city folk  find their way there to cycle, walk or swim their stress away. Its 3,800 hectares is made up mostly of dunes and beach.

Dutch people will remember being blackmailed by their parents into a ‘nice walk’ on a Sunday with the promise of a glass of lemonade at the Parnassia restaurant, which now goes by the trendier moniker of PaZ (Parnassia aan Zee).

The Kennemerduinen were once the playground of rich traders whose grand houses are now part of the park. The grounds of the Duin and Kruidberg estate, for example, have been left to nature, with highland cattle to keep things in check while bats have taken over the ice house. The Beeckestein estate, on the other hand, preserves its fine formal gardens.

Looking for more inburgering? Catch up with the first 50 lessons.