In 1818, after years of war, famine and poverty, a former general named Johannes van den Bosch founded the Society of Benevolence in the Netherlands, with a radical idea: to take poor families from the cities and give them a new life as farmers in the empty heathlands of the north east. The first colony was established at Frederiksoord, in the south of Drenthe, and others followed at Wilhelminaoord, Willemsoord, Veenhuizen and elsewhere. Each family was given a small house, a plot of land and training in farming, and children were educated in schools, an unusual provision for the time. The Colonies of Benevolence, in the Netherlands and Belgium, were listed by UNESCO in 2021.
The experiment had mixed results. The free colonies at Frederiksoord and Wilhelminaoord became established communities, but the land was poor and the colonists struggled to make a living, and the society later took on more coercive roles, with institutions for beggars, vagrants and orphans at Veenhuizen, which later became a prison village. Today, the landscape of the colonies, with long straight roads lined with trees, small farmhouses, and fields laid out in a regular pattern, is a remarkable reminder of this social experiment. The museum at Frederiksoord tells the story, and a gardening school established by the society still operates.
The riding around Frederiksoord is flat and peaceful, through a landscape of fields, woods, heathland and small villages. The roads are well surfaced and quiet, with long straight stretches and gentle bends. To the west lies the Drents-Friese Wold, a national park of forests, heaths and drifting sand dunes, with quiet roads through the trees, and to the east, the Dwingelderveld, another national park, with one of the largest wet heathlands in western Europe. The area is popular with cyclists, so ride carefully and give them space.
Vledder and Noordwolde are small villages with basic services, and Steenwijk, about eight kilometres away, is a small fortified town with fuel, shops and restaurants. The local food is simple and hearty, with pancakes, soups and stews, and the cafes in the villages are good places to stop for coffee and apple pie. The weather is mild but often windy and wet, and the heathlands are at their most beautiful in late summer, when the heather blooms purple.