The best kept secret of Friesland is probably to the area west of Wolvega: a beautiful area that is hardly known to the general public and which has helped to retain its authentic character. Vast peat polders, ditches, canals, rivers, pet-holes (remaining holes after peat mining), swamps, old dikes, locks, pumping stations, mills: lovers of peace and quiet, nature and cultural history can indulge themselves here. Do you enjoy walking? Or more about cycling? Sail? Horse riding? Canoeing? Roller skating? It’s all possible here!

The Grote Veenpolder, that’s how the area southwest of the Helomavaart is known. On the other side of the canal, the landscape consists of a number of smaller peat polders, the names of which in most cases do not bear witness to a great deal of fantasy: Polder De Ontginning, Hoekstra’s Polder, Polder Oldelamer

In the latter polder, next to the Tsjonger, lies nature reserve "Het Braandemeer", which consists of a small lake, grassland plots, swamp, pet-holes, and reed lands. Slightly to the south is another beautiful nature reserve: the Rottige Meenthe. This area covers the eastern half of the Grote Veenpolder which, unlike the western part, has not been dried and cultivated after the peat has been mined. This has also resulted in an alternation of pet-holes, reed beds and marshes and a very special flora and fauna. The area can be explored on foot, by bicycle or by canoe. If you want an expert explanation, we recommend the excursions regularly organized by Staatsbosbeheer.

Art and culture play an important role in the Rottige Meenthe. The area forms, among other things, the backdrop for two annually organized operas: Opera-Nijetrijne and Opera-Spanga. In the latter village, you will also find the studio (to be visited by appointment) with a gallery of ceramic artist and pottery painter Alie Jager and artisanal studio Zink and Silver.

The Grote Veenpolder is also a very interesting area from a cultural-historical point of view. Centuries before the peat extraction, the Scheene was dug here (by monks?), which divided the area between the lower reaches of the Tsjonger and De Linde. This border ditch was later widened for peat transport. Today, De Scheene forms an idyllic, seemingly natural, landscape element. Where the Scheene flows into the Helomavaart is the Scheenesluis. Close to it are two of the many water mills that drained the area of ​​the Grote Veenpolder.

The aforementioned Helomavaart connects De Tsjonger and De Linde with each other and was constructed in 1748 to be able to remove the peat by ship. The canal is named after the Van Heloma family, who in 1704 came into possession of the "Weststellingwerfsche patented Peat Company". In 1927, the Threeway-lock was built at the place where the canal in the Lende came. This lock, which is unique in the Netherlands, was necessary because of the water management necessity to realize three different water levels in the Helomavaart, the upper course of De Lende and the lower course. The complex was restored to its original state in 1994.

The Lende and the Tsjonger come together at Slijkenburg. Nothing can be recognized about the origin of this village as a defense ramp against the Spaniards in the Eighty Years’ War. Here the old dikes only remind us of the time that the village was still on the coast of the Zuiderzee. Along the village runs the N351, which is named after Peter Stuyvesant, the director general of the former Dutch colony Nieuw Nederland, of which Nieuw Amsterdam (nowadays New York) was the capital. At Scherpenzeel, the village where he grew up, there is a monument on the N351 in honor of this important historical figure. A statue of him is placed at the Tjerk Hiddesweg in Wolvega. That place is worth a visit, among other things because of Museum Het Kiekhuus and the Oudheidkamer located in the Windlust mill. Even more information about local history is provided by the Historical Information Point located in the Public Library. And if you are there, take a look at the Kijkzaal, where changing art exhibitions are held.

It is often said that Friesland actually ends at the Tsjonger river: to the south of it are the Stellingwerven, an area with its own character and culture. Here one does not speak Frisian but "Stellingwarfs", a Dutch Saxon dialect that is also spoken in the adjacent part of Overijssel and Drenthe. You can find everything about the history of this special area on www.stellingwerven.dds.nl.

The Tsjonger (Kuunder in Stellingwarfs) and the Lende are two rivers that contribute to the drainage of the Drents Plateau. Exactly between these streams, where the land was higher and therefore drier, a number of villages have emerged. The lands belonging to the villages (the ’village areas’) extended in a northerly and southerly direction to the aforementioned rivers. In the Eighty Years’ War, both rivers together formed the Lende-Kuunder Line, which was part of the Frisian Water Line that runs through Southeast Friesland. To the southeast of Oldeberkoop, near the Stuttebosch, was the Bekhofschans, the contours of which were made visible again in 2007.

Oldeberkoop, the capital of Weststellingwerf in the first half of the nineteenth century, is not only literally the center of this region; the beautiful village, radiating a certain grandeur is also the tourist center. It is located in the middle of the 340 hectare nature reserve Tsjongervallei of Staatsbosbeheer. It Fryske Gea also has a number of nature reserves in the Oldeberkoop area: the Meulebos, the Delleboersterheide, the Diakonievene, and the Bekhofschaans. Hiking routes have been plotted from the village to the various nature reserves. Descriptions of a walking route through the village and a number of cycling routes in the wider area are also available at the VVV brochure point.

The very active village has a large number of events. To name a few: the spring fair, a ’strolling weekend’ at the end of June, an Art and Viewing Route for four weeks in the summer and an annual fair on the last Wednesday of July. There is also an international school for textile technology, art and design (with a gallery; see www.hawar.nl) in the village, a gallery that specializes in ’dog and horse art’ (Nimrod), a chess museum, a deer park, a cheese farm, and a ’1000 animal farm’.

The landscape between the Lende and the Tsjonger is a typical coulisse landscape that is characteristic of most of the Stellingwerven: elongated grass-covered plots of grassland and fields, interspersed with heaths, water, and forest. A beautiful setting for walking, cycling or horse riding. But the area can also be explored from the water. The Tsjonger, part of the Turfroute, is navigable by motorboats and is connected to Oldeberkoop, where there is a passers-by harbor. The Lende is suitable for canoeing. For example, you can rent a canoe at the Oldeholtpade campsite, which is owned by the "Vereniging van Plaatselijk Belang" (Local Interest Association). Three walking tours have been plotted through that association in the area of ​​the village. For the route descriptions, including interesting information about the area, go to www.oldeholtpade.com. In the area north-west of Oldholtpade, the peat excavation began around 1840. The so-called "Holtwolder akkerturf", named after the villages of Oldeholtwolde and Nijholtwolde, was reportedly of exceptional quality. Makkinga is located in the northeast of this region, which is known for the flea market which is held every March from October to the last Saturday of the month. This open-air market is also referred to as "Waterlooplein of the North", referring to the notorious Waterlooplein flea market in the city of Masterdam. "Museum Oold Ark" is located in the village, where all kinds of hand tools from the olden days are exhibited. In this museum, a route description is also available for a cultural-historical walk through the village. More information about the flea market and the museum can be found on the site of the VVV-Makkinga.

"Hier op `e wadden, wereld fan water en slik, won hij lând út see in weer en wyn, skep foor skep, monnikewerk". ("Here on the wadden, world of water and mud, he won land from see in weather and wind, shovel by shovel, monk work".

) This text on the monument "De Slikwerker", which is on the dyke at Zwarte Haan, typifies the history of this special area in Friesland. It is only relatively recently that the water of the Middle Sea flowed here. From the sixteenth century, It Bildt was conquered bit by bit on the sea. The successive embankments are clearly recognizable in the wide landscape, which is dominated by old, less old and new dikes. In between, from the drawing board, a very regular landscape has been plotted with straight and perpendicular roads and waterways.

The impoldering of the Middelzee provided the Frisian residents with help from large numbers of mud workers from Zeeland and South Holland, among others. Many of them continued to live in the area and mixed with the locals. This has created a language of its own, the Bildts. The influence from Holland is also evident from the earlier names for Sint Jacobiparochie, Sint Annaparochie and Vrouwenparochie: Wijngaarden, Altoenae, and Kijfhoek, three (former) villages near Rotterdam.

A very characteristic building pattern has arisen along the Oudebildtdijk (from 1505) and the Nieuwebildtdijk (from 1600). On the north side, against and on the dike, the workers’ houses and to the south of the dike, behind the dike ditch, are the often monumental farms of the weathy farmers who owned the new land at the time. In some places, the ribbon development has grown further into a village. Including the villages Westhoek and Oude Bildtzijl, along the Oudebildtdijk is the longest, more or less closed development ribbon in the Netherlands (11.5 kilometers).

Het Bildt, therefore, has a rich cultural history. But nature lovers can also indulge themselves, especially behind the current sea dike. There lies the Noarderleech. Originally this area would also be reclaimed for agriculture; low dikes (summer dikes) had already been installed. At the insistence of nature organizations, the sea now has more room and the summer polders are gradually being transformed into salt marshes.

Tranquility, space, beautiful views, spectacular cloudy skies, culture, and nature .... The Bildt has a lot to offer! It is not without reason that the most famous Dutch painter, Rembrandt van Rijn, also visited Bildt. There he met Saskia van Uylenburgh, whom he married in 1634 in the reformed church of Sint Annaparochie.