Just south of the city of Leeuwarden, Province of Friesland, very close to the Martenastate, you’ll find the Dekemastate in the village of Jelsum. The former noble estate nowadays is a museum. The Dekemastate is one of the oldest castles in Friesland, dating back to the 14th century, when it was built as a defendable […]
States in Friesland: The Martenastate
Although I still haven’t seen all noble estates in the province of Groningen, on Saturday I went cycling in the province of Friesland next door, where manors are not called “borg” like in Groningen, but “state”. As I wanted to visit the grave of my great-great-grandparents in Stiens, north of the capital city of Leeuwarden, […]
Discovering Groningen – the Allersmaborg
The first castle stop in “lockdown” on 31 May 2020 took me to the Allersmaborg between Ezinge and Aduarderzijl, The Netherlands. It is situated about 18 kilometres from the city in Groningen, where I live. For a rather inexperienced cyclist like me it was quite a distance, but the weather was lovely, so there I […]
The Oranjewoud estate – An oasis of peace
Last weekend my parents took me to a place I hadn’t been anymore for nearly 30 years, but which we visited several times when I was a child. A place with a royal history. We have to go back to the year 1676 when Albertine Agnes – daughter of Frederik Prince of Orange and his […]