Zeist, Doorn, Odijk

This cycle route will stimulate all your senses. Not only will you feast your eyes on the beautiful castles and natural beauty, but you will also listen to the silence and the peace when you are on the country estates, smell the fresh scent of the unique collection of trees at the Arboretum and taste a dish prepared with 19th century ingredients and cooking techniques at the Taste Museum.

Slot Zeist ensures that the city of Zeist is also known as the castle city. The owner of this castle is Willem A. van Nassau-Odijk who had it built between 1677 and 1686. In the adjacent Huis van Oranje (House of Orange) you will find more information about the origins of this castle and its impressive history.

A kitchen garden has been on the site of the historic Bartiméus kitchen garden since the 18th century. For a long time, the garden was owned by the prosperous Van Loon family (late 19th century). There are still a number of parts to be found that were made by the family. In one of the walls, for example, there is still a boiler house where a stove used to be located to heat the palm grove. The hothouses were used to grow vegetables all year round. They were also used to grow flowers for the house and plants for the borders around the house. The grape, peach and fig greenhouses served to provide the family with fresh fruit.

The Von Gimborn Arboretum is also worth visiting. It is the life's work of Max Th. von Gimborn. He was a great lover of trees and started collecting them. In 1925, he had the park and arboretum designed in English landscape style, so that he could establish his tree collection there. The collection is unique in the world. The park received an international award for this. We can still admire the various species during a walk through the fantastically landscaped tree park.

Experience the food culture of bygone days in the Smaakmuseum in Odijk. You can see exhibitions of old plant varieties, old cooking techniques and preparation methods from the past. Of course, you can also taste the ingredients yourself. After this bicycle tour, you will know how sizzling Zeist and its surroundings are!