Photo Walk: Twickel Castle and Surrounding Estate

This post is written with apologies to those of you back home who are in the midst of one of the meanest winters on record; while you were surely holed up in your homes trying to stay warm yesterday afternoon, I was out for the first photo walk of the year.  There's no need to be too jealous, though; it's not like I was sunbathing on a tropical beach or anything.  It wasn't anywhere near as cold as it is back home, but there was definitely a nip in the air that kept me from keeping my hands out of my pockets for too long.  It was certainly colder than it was around here last weekend, when we walked the grounds of the castle that you'll see in the pictures below as a family.  Yet, it was a wonderful escape after a long week of tantrums, a first visit to the neighborhood doctor, a parking ticket (80 dollars!), rain, and more tantrums.  Did I mention tantrums?

 

Yesterday's photo walk took me back to Twickel Castle, which is located just outside of Delden and less than a 5 minute drive from our home.  Though the castle is closed to the public, the surrounding estate, which stretches across five municipalities, is a popular destination for sport and leisure - especially on Sundays, when the Dutch get walking!  Though terribly wet and muddy from last week's rain, the trails that lead to and from the castle were crowded with visitors yesterday; even more so last weekend, when temperatures climbed into the low 50s. 

 

Obviously, I walked only so far on the trails before turning around to loop back to the castle.  I spent about an hour and a half on the grounds, enjoying the fresh air, the sights and sounds of the MANY dogs who happily splashed along the muddy trails, and the challenge of photographing my walk.  

 

The castle is less than a 5 minute drive and a short walk under the motorway from our home.  The tunnel under the motorway is lined with these mossy stone walls.

Many puddles made for some wet walking, but also made for some interesting reflections. 

Twickel Castle, from afar

Several homes are located on the grounds and are presumably inhabited by those who manage farmland on the estate. 

The castle and its gardens are surrounded by gates that keep out the riff raff. 

The gardens will open for tours in May, but the castle remains closed to visitors unless a tour is scheduled by appointment.

The water seen in the picture above flows into the MOAT that surrounds the castle.  An actual MOAT, people.  No crocodiles, though, as far as I could tell.

 

A moat...and a DRAWBRIDGE.  This is the real deal, folks. 



The road to the castle was paved with the same colorful stones that I found outside a church when I took a photo walk through Delden Centrum.

Twickel Castle was built in 1357 (!) and enlarged in the first part of the 17th century and again in 1847. 

Between 1347-1953, Twickel was owned by a succession of families, the first being that from which came its name - Van Twickelo. 

In 1953, Baroness van Heeckeren van Wassenaer, the last private owner of the castle established The Twickel Foundation, an independent, private institution to manage the property.  The Baroness believed that the castle should continue to be inhabited; her relatives currently live in a section of the castle. 

Another home on the estate

A view of Twickel from a distance

...and even farther distance!

Portions of the trails were so muddy that I had no choice but to walk right through it.  I should have worn my rubbers.

 I could be wrong, but I don't know that you would find a bridge with a railing on just one side in the States.  I made a note to self not to take this route with the twins. 

I took about a zillion pictures of this damned tree.  I was struggling to get the exposure right.  I wanted to capture the sunlight breaking through the clouds behind the tree without blacking out the foreground, and I was struggling.  After a little editing, this was the best I could do. 

If I could read and understand Dutch, I might have been able to learn more about the estate!

The castle is to the right.  I don't know what you might find in the other directions. 

Keepin' the riff raff out

Another building located not too far from the castle

I suppose there could have been crocodiles swimming closer to the castle...

As you might be able to see from the photo above, it still very much looks (and feels) like late fall here.  I would actually like a *little* snow here.  Just enough to make a tiny snowman and to photograph.  Not enough to strand us in our Little Dutch House...we spend enough time in it as it is!