Hoevelaken: Routes, History and Art

Hoevelaken offers several specific points of interest for a trip: hiking trails through different types of landscapes, memorials from the Second World War and a historic church building. If you are looking for a hotel in Hoevelaken, you can first decide whether your trip will focus mainly on hiking, local history or the annual art route. The details below will help you distinguish between these options and plan your stay around your own itinerary.

Routes and landscapes

The Laaksepad leads from Hoevelaken through a landscape of moors and peat extraction towards Nijkerkerveen. The Laaksepad KIDS runs through the Hoevelakense bos. Another route is the Hoevelaken–Nijkerk walk: it runs from Hoevelaken to Nijkerk through Landgoed Hoevelaken and along the Barneveldse Beek. The descriptions therefore differ both in the landscapes they mention and in the direction and places they connect.

You can also explore Landgoed Hoevelaken itself on foot. Those interested in the estate’s history will find a link to the 15th century: a castle once stood south of the present-day house. The Overbosch was laid out in the English landscape style around 1840.

Monuments and architectural history

The Walter Strang Memorial in Hoevelaken is a white wooden cross with a stone memorial plaque. It stands at the entrance to Park Weldam, at the corner of Westerdorpsstraat. The memorial commemorates Scottish-Canadian Sergeant Walter Strang, who was killed in a German mortar attack during the liberation of Hoevelaken on 19 April 1945.

Frans Tromp is also commemorated with a memorial in Hoevelaken. The memorial plaque for the resistance fighter, who was shot by the occupier during the Second World War, is mounted on the inside wall of the “Schimmelpenninck van der Oye” Christian primary school on Oosterdorpsstraat. Unlike the Walter Strang Memorial, which stands at the park entrance as a wooden cross with a memorial plaque, this plaque is located inside the school building.

Another historical landmark is the tower of the Reformed Church at Westerdorpsstraat 67. The tower is a brick structure dating from the 15th or 16th century. Two bells hang inside it; one was made by J. Tolhuis and bears the date 1537. The tower’s building materials and construction period, along with the dated bell, offer different perspectives on the architectural history of the town.

Art route and getting around

The Hoevelaken Art Route takes place every year on the last weekend in September. It starts at Dorpshuis De Stuw. If you would like to combine your trip with the event, check the date for your chosen year when planning. This lets you arrange your stay around the scheduled event without confusing the art route with the hiking trails described as available year-round.

Two specific details are also useful for getting around: free parking is available in the Hartje Hoevelaken centre. Grand café De Haen is on the parking-lot side of De Brink 10a in Hoevelaken and is one of the landmarks along the Laaksepad.

Discover more travel destinations: Nijkerk.

Go to the main travel overview: Nijkerk.