Hunze Valley and Peat Colonies

The Landscape

The Hunze Valley is an ancient and distinctive river valley in eastern Drenthe, where nature and history come together. Here you’ll find a peaceful, wide-open landscape with a beautiful mix of wet forests, marshes, grasslands, and winding streams. These streams are fed by underground springs, where iron-rich seepage water bubbles up, giving the area a unique atmosphere. For centuries, the Hunze, a peat stream, has shaped this landscape as it meanders through it. Early settlers lived on the higher sandy grounds, traces of which remain in burial mounds and celtic fields. Surrounding the valley are herb-rich meadows, hedgerows, and farms that lend the landscape a nostalgic charm.

In the Peat Colonies, the landscape tells a quiet tale of transformation. Once a vast, peaty wilderness, this region was reshaped in the 17th and 18th centuries by the hands of peat workers and the slow rhythm of barges gliding through newly dug canals. What remains today is a land of long, straight lines. Canals, ditches, and ribbon villages stretching across the open plains. The sky is wide and open, and the fields stretch out in vibrant, fertile rows. Sugar beets, potatoes, grains, and onions grow in neat lines across the land. Along the roads and canals, historic farms, old barns, little bridges, and locks recall the hard work of past generations. Quiet and simple, yet it leaves a lasting impression.