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What better place to start the day than at a flower farm? When I visit, Marianne and Sjaak de Bont are sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast. Their daughter Nicole is also joining them. Together with her sister Ingrid, they run De Langendam.
Recently I was at De Voorste Venne in Drunen. A beautiful, local theater that was completely renovated two years ago. After a turbulent period for the cultural center, it is time for a positive direction and all noses are once again pointed in the same direction!
I love special places in the Netherlands. As far as I am concerned, the Langstraat has all the ingredients for a special day out. What makes the region very unique is its history as a thriving tanning area, which is still very much felt and visible.
Langstraat is the name used for centuries to designate a centrally located area in North Brabant. Peat and hay extraction and shoe and leather industry were central. Today, the region is known as the leisureregion of Brabant.
Heusden is renowned as a seventeenth century fortified town. In many ways, Heusden still resembles (or more accurately, resembles again) the town as the Amsterdam mapmaker Joan Blaeu depicted it on his famous map of 1649. But the town is much older.
Toward the end of the sixteenth century, a new era presented itself in Heusden. The city government sided with William of Orange, and Heusden's defenses were adjusted to keep Spanish troops out of Holland.
The impoverishment that occurred in the nineteenth century had made Heusden a dilapidated monument town. Especially after the devastation of 1944, the town was badly battered. The municipal government was faced with the task of restoring and growing the town.