Treasure Hunting

Today was a hunt for two different kinds of treasure, and we were successful on both counts!

The day started with the Breidag en Haakdag show in Nieuwegein. We knew that knitting was popular in the Netherlands, but take a look at these pictures of the crowds!

Knitting treasures that we found.

Next on our hunt was to search for the site of the de Hoogh family farm, a few kilometers south to Tiel. The only information we had to work with was that the family farmhouse was still there about 15 years ago, but was scheduled to be demolished to make room for an "industrial park". The photo we've seen of the old house is very muddy, but we knew that the old farm was always known as "The Groote Brug". Thanks to Google Maps, we were pretty sure we knew where to look, but things always look different on the ground so it took a bit of doing to actually find it.


Once we had found the approximate location, we happened upon the family home of Denise de Kruijff who just happened to be there to take care of some property tax issues after the death of her father. Denise turned out to be an incredible find! She was very willing to share information with us about the area. She confirmed that the nearby bridge was indeed called "Groote Brug" and that she remembered from her childhood that there had been farmsteads in the area where we expected that the farm had been. She said that on her side of the river Linge had been the area for growing fruit trees, but that the other side had been a cultivated farm area.

The de Hoogh farmhouse probably looked a bit like this one. In the background is the DHL facility that now sits where we think the farm was located.

The bridge over the River Linge is called "Groote Brug".

The DHL facility that now sits where we think the de Hoogh farm was located.

Linda standing on the "Groote Brug". Ironic that this is translated as "Large Bridge" since there is nothing seemingly large about it. The bridge which was there in the 1880s probably wasn't even as large as this!

One of the de Hoogh ancestors,  Jerphaas de Hoogh, was born in the nearby town of Maurik in about 1795. Here is the church in Maurik - Sint Maartenskerk - which was started in the 1300s.

The windmill in Maurik. This is a "tower" style - it's all made from brick and only the top "hat" rotates. We don't know what the mill was used for, but this style is frequently a flour grinding mill.