Mousing at Bourtange

A star shaped fortress built hundreds of years ago to mark the beginning of the 80 year war. The extra is a photo of a wall photo which shows the shape better than I can.

In 1580 Willem van Orange ordered the building of entrenchment with five bastions on a sandy ridge in the swamps on the Dutch German border. The fortress was dismantled in 1851.

In the mid 60’s it was decided to raise money to restore the area to the original shape by digging out the canals and re building many of the properties. 25 years later it was opened as a tourist attraction. Today we arrived into the small market centre, only staff traffic allowed, very attractive, when it started to pour with rain and we dived under cover for a coffee which gave us the opportunity to establish where to go first. The first room was a good start where a woman briefly explained the history of fortress, there was an area of photos showing the local flora and fauna, and in the centre an interactive floor to machine information game. And elsewhere a film show explaining the history. English was included in most of the areas.

A thoroughly enjoyable visit, wandering around the ramparts looking down, and listening to the information covering hundreds of years, including a time when farming the land was thought to be a good idea.

We had lunch afterwards, the waiter was happy to talk; apparently the area is used regularly for television and filming and other fortress such as this can be found in Japan. It is open all year round, a number of properties are now privately owned and some you can stay in for a holiday. He told us 46 people lived here on a permanent basis.

We are now parked on an excellent aire/marina again no fuss or noise, there is a bar and restaurant nearby with helpful happy people to assist. And we have come across a washing machine and dryer. That’s good news!