What is there to do?

Hiking

De Witte Buizerd lies between Hondsrug and Hunzedal, two areas with several beautiful hiking routes. 3 km from here is the Drouwenerzand, recently a geological monument and a fantastic hiking area. Right on the doorstep here is the catchment area of the Hunze foothills with the picturesque Bronneger. Following that, upstream is the Hunze Valley with the Breevenen water catchment area recommended for a lovely day’s walk. If you head a little further north-east, you’ll find yourself in Groningen’s Westerwolde; here, too, there are plenty of walking routes through varied countryside. Take a look at the Forestry Commission website

For our guests, we have hiking routes and maps to borrow.

Cycling region hunebeds

54 hunebeds can be found in the Netherlands. Of these, most are in Drenthe. These originally ancient tombs are real attractions. The hunebed stones arrived in the Netherlands during an ice age. They came along with a glacier and when it melted, the hunebed stones were left behind. The stones come all the way from Finland and Sweden. The following route takes you past all the hunebeds and is very suitable for cycling with children. However, you should bear in mind that the route is quite long and you will need several days for it. Of course, if that is not for your children, you can always choose to cycle only part of the route. A tour of all hunebeds Distance: 292 km Time: several days Difficulty: medium-difficult Route: Meppel – Havelte – Appelscha – Steenbergen – Assen – Rolde – Balloërveld – Noordlaren – Zuidlaren – Annen – Gieten – Gasselte – Borger – Exloo – Valthe – Odoorn – Emmen

• From Meppel, cycle towards Havelte.
• You then cycle through the Appelscha forestry towards the Fochteloërveen.
• Straight through that nature reserve you then cycle past Assen towards Rolde in a curve. You then cycle through the Balloërveld towards Noordlaren.
• From Noordlaren, it goes south again and via Zuidlaren, Annen, Gieten and Gasselte you cycle to Borger.
• You then head towards Odoorn via Exloo and Valthe.
• The last part of the route takes you past the hunebeds around and in Emmen.
• Emmen is the end point of the route. Optionally, you can cycle back to Meppel from here, which is about 65 kilometres longer.

LOFAR

‘The eyes of the earth’ is called LOFAR. It is the world’s largest radio telescope. LOFAR is an international project, but the central part is located in east of the Hondsrug in the transition area to the Veenkoloniën, a few kilometres from Camping de Witte Buizerd. The LOFAR area is a nature reserve in development, and a paradise for birds.

At the neighbours

Our neighbours, recreation company 25Graden North, offers numerous adventure, play and sports activities for children and adults.

Horseback riding

Manege Gasselte and manege Les Chevaux in Buinen offer outdoor horse rides especially for holidaymakers.

Golf

There are golf courses in Gasselternijveen, Ees and Exloo for visitors.

With kids

• Drouwenerzand amusement park in Drouwen
• The Hunebed Centre in Borger with the largest hunebed in Europe
• Wildlands Adventure Zoo (formerly Noorder Dierenpark) in Emmen
• Clambering among the treetops at the Boomkroonpad near Borger
• Theme park Kabouterland in Exloo
• The Kingdom of the Gnomes in Eext for the little ones
• Poolshoogte teahouse with viewing tower in Odoorn
• Swimming at the Pagedal in Stadskanaal or in recreational lake Het Nije Hemelriek in Gasselte or the Hunzedal in Borger

Tasting culture and history

(a small sample of what’s on offer)

• The Drents Museum in Assen is a wonderful museum with an interesting permanent collection (including the Girl of Yde) and great changing exhibitions. Highly recommended!
• Remembrance centre Camp Westerbork shows the history of this camp in WWII
• The Veenpark in Barger-Compascuum shows how people lived in the time of the peat cutters
• The Veenkoloniaal museum in Veendam showcases the history of ‘brown gold’, as the peat was called, and peat-colonial shipping
• Museum village Orvelte provides a fine picture of the Drenthe of old with its Saxon farms, blacksmith shop and sawmill
• Groningen and the Groninger Museum are easily accessible by car or bus from here