Hondsrug and Sleenerzand

The Landscape

The Hondsrug is a long, winding sand ridge in the northern Netherlands, formed by ice and meltwater during the Ice Ages. As a dry route through a marshy landscape, it was the ideal place for settlement and travel for thousands of years. Here, Neanderthals hunted mammoths, megalithic builders erected giant burial monuments, and the first farmers established their villages. The landscape still bears their traces: from impressive dolmens and quiet burial mounds to mysterious sacrificial sites and ancient cart tracks on the heath.

The Sleenerzand is a vast forest area of over 1,600 hectares between the villages of Noord-Sleen and Schoonoord. Once, it was an open, rugged landscape of heath and drifting sand, where the wind roamed freely, and travelers made their way along the ancient trade route from the city of Groningen to Coevorden. In the 1930s, the area was largely reclaimed and planted with pine trees, interspersed with heathlands and quiet peat bogs. Over time, it transformed into a diverse forest, filled with tranquility and natural beauty. Yet, the Sleenerzand still tells its ancient stories: in the north, you'll find glacial pits from the Ice Age, while in the south, centuries-old burial mounds mark the landscape.