Autumn splendor in the Veluwe

Weather was forecasted to be dry last 31st October so we headed to the Veluwe for that autumn walk and photoshoot. I could almost murder the weatherman for the wrong forecast as it was raining endlessly when got there. The park is not so far from our place, actually just about 20 minutes drive. Entrance fee is € 7.50 per person and € 6 for the car. The car can also be left parked by the entrance (saves €6) and just make use of the many bikes to explore the whole expanse of the area. Not something to do on a rainy day but in summer or a dry autumn day, the idea is very appealing.


Quoted from the website of De Hoge Veluwe:  http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/en/14

De Hoge Veluwe National Park is the largest actively managed conservation area in private hands in the Netherlands. The Park covers 5,400 hectares of woodland, heathland, peat bogs and drift sand. It enjoys a wide variety of plants and animals and provides habitats to extremely rare Red List species. Together with the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Sculpture Garden and Country-residence/Museum Jachthuis Sint Hubertus, the Park forms a unique and (inter)nationally renowned combination of nature, art and architecture.

We've been to the Kröller-Müller Museum a couple of times in the past so that was out of our itinerary this time. This museum though, is certainly worth a visit as the collection is quite impressive. There are a couple of Van Goghs and if you are an avid fan, certainly a visit here is a must. The sculpture garden is also interesting and if you have the heart for climbing, then a controversial railing-free stairway to the top of a hill with an incredible view of the Veluwe treeline should not be given a miss. 

We opted to head to the direction of the Museum Jachthuis Sint Hubertus which has been designed by a famous Dutch architect who also designed the Beurs Berlage (stock market building) in Amsterdam. A typical design from the 1930's, the building does not appeal to me but I was told that it is an architectural treasure and the interiors have also been so well thought about. Hmmm…something to explore another time.

We walked around the area of the Museum Jachthuis but Francesca was not up to it. The ground was also very soggy. I took pictures but all at lightning speed because of the rain (camera on one hand and umbrella on the other). Some came out blurred. Darn!

Francesca can only think of in terms of playgrounds as the place to be…not the autumn colours that hubby and I were gushing about. We headed to the park centrum where a playground, an information centre and another museum can be found plus a very nice restaurant. We needed to indulge Francesca first at the playground to work out that boundless energy before she was ready for lunch. It was very wet at the playground but to this little girl, that was no reason not to play.

Lunch at the restaurant was a pleasant surprise. Siefko who never goes for warm lunch meals was tempted to order the wild boar stew with mashed potatoes and red cabbage on the side. Francesca had her pancake while I had a melange of potato salad and cold cuts plus bread and butter.

After lunch, we were already intending to go home but Francesca egged us to head to the opposite visitors information center with the underground museum. She saw at the entrace of the building this board where she can stick her face out. She loves it so we complied. Going inside the info center, we were led to an underground museum whose design was very well thought of. 

On our way out of the museum, we heard that there was some activity going on outside. True enough, there were these hunters who were performing for the crowd using their horns the various musical signals they use. Pretty interesting…