Polsbroek: Walking Routes, Water Management and Architectural History

Explore Polsbroek through three specific interests: walking in the Lopikerwaard, water management, and historic architectural styles. For planning your outing, the Kerkepad Route has a stated length and approximate duration; the audio walk focuses on water management, a former court site, and a peat meadow landscape. The farm at Noordzijdseweg 183 and the Ned. Herv. Church add buildings from different periods to this picture. During your stay, you can choose to focus more on the route, the waterscape, or the architecture.

Walking Routes through the Lopikerwaard

The audio walk through the Lopikerwaard offers insights into the past and present of water management. It passes a former court site and goes through characteristic peat meadow landscapes. This walking route brings together water management, landscape, and a historic site. It is especially interesting if, as you walk, you want to learn about the area’s water management and history as well as its landscape.

The Kerkepad Route is 14 km long, takes about four hours, and is unpaved for 20 percent of its length. The distance indicates the route’s length, the approximate duration provides a guide to the time required, and the unpaved section tells you about the trail surface. This gives you several factors to consider when planning, without treating the approximate duration as exact. As trail conditions can change seasonally, check them before setting out.

Waterknoop and the Waterscape

The Waterknoop is located on Slangeweg, just before Polsbroek. There, several waterways with different water levels pass over and under one another. What makes it special is this unusual arrangement. While the audio walk explores water management along a route, the Waterknoop is a single named feature in the landscape. This gives you two different ways to explore the subject: walking through the Lopikerwaard and seeing a specific arrangement of waterways.

Farm and Church: Different Construction Periods

The farm at Noordzijdseweg 183 dates from the 17th century and has a thatched hipped roof. “Hipped roof” describes the shape, while “thatched” describes the roofing material. Inside, a flood floor, authentic beam ceilings, and an 18th-century fireplace have been preserved. The description therefore covers both the roof’s exterior form and several features of the interior. Dating the fireplace adds an element from a later period to the farm’s 17th-century origins.

Different construction periods can also be seen at the Ned. Herv. Church. The tower dates partly from around 1300 and was heightened in the 15th century. The brick hall church was built in 1834, after the old church was demolished. The tower and the brick church therefore represent different building phases: the earlier dates refer to the tower, while 1834 marks the construction of the hall church after the old church was demolished.

Tours at the Cheese Farm

Tours of the cheese-making facilities at Kaasboerderij Verweij are available on request; prior arrangements are required. If you would like to include this in your itinerary, arrange a time in advance.

Discover more destinations: Lopik, Benschop.

Return to the main travel overview: Lopik.