Joop and Ellen are friends from my years at the University of Technology in Delft. Yesterday I finally found time to visit them in Beusinchem where they have lived the past 30 years. Their house is situated behind the dikes of one of the many rivers of the complex watersystem of The Netherlands (remember that of this country about 60% lies below sea level). They have a good chunk of land with an older house full of character; lots and lots of work; basically a "work in progress forever" (but they love it).
They built a small barn (in the photo the building to the right of the white house) in which Ellen has her creative workshop and where Joop keeps all his tools for home improvements.
The house on the inside also has lots of character and they heat their living room with woodfire. Joop and I took the bicycles and toured the area with a few of the local historic small towns. We crossed one of the rivers in a small ferry, always a fun experience during a cycling tour.
The weather these days has been surprisingly nice, and the terraces were full of people enjoying the good life during a weekend day. The rest of this post features just a selection of sites to see in these small towns with buildings dating back hundreds of years (some of the smaller canals date back even to the time of the occupation of this region by the Roman Empire...).
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