NP Maasduinen between Venlo and Arcen
Sunday, August 21 around twelve, Lara and Giel drove from Eindhoven to Velden. We gathered in the shade around the Bierfontein, which immortalizes the Carnivalesque Crazy Monday. The image consists of five young bachelors, who play music that suits the party. Each statue – crazy Monday celebrated – is located on a historic site in the countryside, along which a walking route runs. The route connects to the Pieterpad.
Today we are going to walk a small part. From the Markt we walk towards the MFA and the Veldens Voedselbos of Marjolein Lommen. She talks about the establishment of the foundation and the construction of the park, including dog walking meadow. It is mainly intended for educational purposes for youth and young people. And it is widely used as a refuge for children who quickly suffer from overstimulation. Here they can relax and play their own game in the grass between the trees and shrubs. The forest is maintained by volunteers and is located between two other green oases to create a green zone in Velden, where housing construction is rapidly increasing.
Via this forest we go through the new building to the suburb of De Vilgert, where a few private landowners participate in the Delta Plan on Biodiversity. Along grassland and arable land, strips of flowers have been sown with different mixtures. Annual, biennial and perennial flowers distributed over several years to provide shelter for young farmland birds and insects. In particular insects that help with the management of pest diseases and/or processionary caterpillars.
As we continue walking we also pass pieces of land belonging to St. Limburg Landscape that is managed by bulls from Limburg Organic Farmers. Pieces of land are separated by rows of trees (willows) and shrubs to provide shelter for animals and to keep the cattle in the pasture.
A little further on in Schandelo we walk past Art Bed and Breakfast, also a member of the Delta Plan Biodiversity. He manages his piece of land with wild flowers and free-range chickens. The garden around the old farm is filled with Art between Nature. Renting out rooms is a necessary source of income to fund the management and maintenance of the Farm.
Finally we arrive at the border, where the Smokkelpad has been constructed. To get children back to playing in nature. Because that makes you happy and smart. Both Lara and Giel climbed the tree house and were able to look out over the German border to arable land with sunflowers. They were soon followed by a group of children, so they walked further to the German Bauernhof where a flower meadow has been realized that meets Biodiversity, forms a biotope for insects and farmland birds. But there is also an old telegraph pole with a stork's nest. The colors of flowers have disappeared during the arid summer, but they stand proudly with seed pods (hope for a new flowery year). A climbing course has been constructed between the flowers, so that children can experience how an insect flies between the flowers. At the corner of this playing field on the edge of a free-range forest, there is a large information board about farmland birds and a picnic bench to enjoy everything that grows and blooms.
We walk back to the Netherlands through the free-range forest to end up in a really old-fashioned cozy pancake house with a wooden stove. A beer is ordered quickly and Venlo and Velden pancakes are eaten with taste. All in all a sunny and successful day! The guests are returned by car to the starting point to enthusiastically start their journey home.
Annet