Rijswijk: Country Estates, Nature and History

Rijswijk combines a country estates area with historic buildings, traces of the landscape, and routes. When planning your trip, you can choose how much emphasis to place on nature and culture: walking and cycling routes offer practical activity options, while the museum and historic sites provide further points of interest.

Country Estates Area and Nature

The country estates area comprises seven former country estates and three parks, as well as sports grounds and a children’s farm. It is part of the Hollandse Duinen National Park. Its inclusion in Hollandse Duinen National Park adds a broader landscape perspective to the individual parks.

Landgoed Te Werve is partly situated on the old Rijswijk beach-ridge landscape and is known, among other things, for its Stinsen plants and other rare flora and fauna. It is also part of the Moestuinenfietsroute 1 cycling route. This means that nature and a named cycling route come together at the same country estate.

Walks and Cycling Routes

The free “Rondje Rijswijk” app offers walking and cycling routes in Rijswijk, including routes along the country estates area. If you are weighing up a walking tour versus a cycling trip, the app offers both types of routes, as well as examples connected to the country estates area. You can first choose based on how you want to get around, then narrow down your choice according to the route’s area of interest.

The “Landgoedwandelen: Rijswijk” walking route is 6.5 kilometres long and starts at the Museum Rijswijk in the Tollenshuis, Herenstraat 67, 2282 BR Rijswijk. Unlike the app, which offers several types of routes, this is a single, specified walking suggestion with a clearly named starting point. This gives you two concrete reference points for planning your own trip: the distance and the starting location.

Museum and Landscape History

The Museum Rijswijk is located in Rijswijk’s old town centre, in a manor house dating from around 1790. The museum has a sloping garden, one of the few visible remnants of the beach-ridge landscape from around 3500 BC. The dates show the considerable gap between the manor house, dating from around 1790, and the landscape feature, dating from around 3500 BC.

Historic Sites in Rijswijk

In the Middle Ages, Huis Te Werve was a fortified castle with a moat in the County of Holland; a small section of the moat has survived. The word “fortified” refers to the castle’s defensive function, and thus to an aspect different from the country estate’s nature and route connections.

In the Rijswijkse Bos, the foundations near the Herdenkingsnaald mark the site where Huis ter Nieuburch once stood. The historic water pump stands beside the Oude Kerk and is a Rijksmonument, a national heritage site, dating from 1831. For several years now, it has once again supplied fresh drinking water to Rijswijk residents and visitors. Together with the foundations near the Herdenkingsnaald, it shows two different ways of recognising historic sites in the city: one marks the location of a former house, while the other is a monument that still serves as a source of drinking water.

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