Voor kinderen
Beek Manor is an ancient country estate near Nijmegen situated next to a high ridge, or moraine, formed in one of the last ice ages. The estate is a combination of wooded hills and low-lying meadows with Schengen House (1880) located on the estate’s highest ground. Beek Manor has beautiful scenery and a rich natural and cultural history.
Moraine
During the Saalien glaciation of northern Europe some 180,000 to 130,000 years ago, glaciers from the north carved the landscape in the Netherlands, creating a high ridge or moraine near Nijmegen. This ridge extended all the way to the Veluwe region, but has gradually been eroded over the centuries by the river Rhine, forming the low-lying Betuwe region. The Romans considered the strategic position of the ridge above the rivers ideal for settling on: fertile land beneath the hills and clean spring water. The Romans referred to the area as the Elysian Fields, ‘the realm of the blessed’.
Gnome Tree
The Romans left their mark on the landscape in the form of sweet chestnut trees. They loved sweet chestnuts to such an extent that they imported trees and planted them around 2000 years ago. One of the descendants is the Gnome tree that is 450 years old, with a circumference of 850 centimetres. This may not be the oldest tree in the Netherlands, but it is certainly one of the largest.
Beek Manor
The Beek Manor Estate was originally made up of land on loan from the Counts of Cleves (Germany), but in around 1350, this land became the property of the Lords of Groesbeek. The moraine ridge had countless streams and brooks that were ideal for washing and powering mill wheels, and so Beek became known throughout history for its laundries and bleaching fields. From the end of the 17th century up until 1941, the estate was owned by the Van Randwijck family. They then donated this hilly area of natural beauty to the Geldersch Landschap Foundation. Beek Manor is also home to Schengen House (‘t Huys te Schengen), a country house that was built in 1880 along with a beautifully landscaped garden.
