Hoog-Keppel, Laag-Keppel, Doetinchem

Start your journey in Laag-Keppel, a small town that has held city rights since 1404. It boasts a protected village view with old houses, waterways and little bridges. The streets here recall the heyday of the local tobacco industry, when many farmers grew tobacco as their main source of income.

From TOP Laag-Keppel, you'll soon reach the beautiful Keppel Castle. The estate features the unique combination of a watermill and a windmill, together called the Keppelse Mills. These mills once ground grain and seeds to supply the region with flour and oil and are now cultural heritage.

Continue to Hoog-Keppel where the heart of the village is found at the Village Church, a national monument with parts dating back to the 11th century. With its Romanesque tuff stone and Gothic choir, this church is one of the oldest in the region and once stood in the center of a bustling tobacco economy.

Just like in Laag-Keppel, tobacco was an important source of income here in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Farmers cultivated the plant on small plots, while the local nobility, such as the residents of Keppel Castle, promoted the trade.

From Hoog-Keppel the route heads to Hummelo, once the largest tobacco village in the area. Around 1812, more than a quarter of the population made a living from tobacco farming. The crop quickly disappeared after strict tax measures and smuggling practices, rumored to be mainly conducted by the noble Van Heeckeren family who lived at Enghuizen Castle.

The estate and manor are now a beautiful park landscape with old trees, water features and winding paths. Not far from there lies the lovely Sterrebos Estate, recognizable by its characteristic star-shaped path structure, a unique piece of baroque landscape art.