Nature and landscape
Remarkable nature in a centuries-old patchwork landscape
Landgoed De Wiersse is more than house, garden and park. Around the historic core lies over 300 hectares of woodland, water, hay meadow and arable land: a small-scale patchwork landscape that has few equals in the Netherlands. What makes De Wiersse so special is the combination of centuries of careful management and exceptional natural conditions. Over short distances, dry alternates with wet and acidic with lime-rich, and it is precisely these transitions that make the estate so rich in plants and animals.
A landscape full of micro-relief
De Wiersse lies on an old cover-sand landscape. West-east oriented cover-sand ridges with a fine parabolic shape run through the whole area, with elongated hollows in between. In the eastern part the height differences are greatest, up to two or three metres over a short distance; towards the west the relief becomes gentler. This fine-grained micro-relief means that high and low, dry and wet constantly alternate. Within a single parcel the vegetation can therefore differ greatly, and that is exactly what makes the nature here so varied.
Seepage and lime: a rare soil
In the hollows of De Wiersse, groundwater rises to the surface naturally. This seepage water is base-rich to lime-rich, a rarity in the predominantly acidic sandy landscape of the Achterhoek. Where that lime-bearing water reaches the surface, soils and habitats arise that are scarcely found anywhere else in the Netherlands. The transitions from dry to wet and from acidic to base-rich produce exceptionally valuable gradients: over a handful of metres the vegetation changes completely.
Ecologist André Jansen and geomorphologist Gilbert Maas carried out a landscape-ecological system analysis for De Wiersse. It shows that the north-west corner of the estate in particular has exceptionally high potential for high-quality wet nature, including on a regional scale. This makes De Wiersse one of the most promising places for wet, nutrient-poor grasslands in this region.
The nature types we manage
Around the estate we manage some 130 hectares of woodland and nature and more than 50 hectares under agricultural nature management. In the wet, lime-rich hollows lie moist hay meadows and wet nutrient-poor grasslands, with damp heath here and there. Around these, old woods, coppice, hedgerows, avenues and pools form a dense and varied fabric. Many of these parcels are small, so the variety over short distances is great.
In the coming years we will expand the nature further: more than 14 hectares of farmland will be converted into new nature. The province has already included this new nature in the 2026 nature management plan.
The nature types at De Wiersse, parcel by parcel. The moist hay meadows and wet nutrient-poor grasslands in the lime-rich hollows are the most special.
Remarkable flora and fauna
The wealth of transitions translates into a striking richness of species. In the moist hay meadows, marsh marigold, marsh horsetail and various orchids bloom, including the greater twayblade; in the woods the broad-leaved helleborine grows, and along the Baakse Beek the royal fern spreads naturally. The animal life is exceptional too: here live lizards and crested newts, pipistrelle bats, four species of woodpecker, breeding kingfishers and woodcock, and the rare purple emperor butterfly.
That richness goes beyond what is immediately visible. De Wiersse is home to numerous Red List species, and even fungi that occur nowhere else in the Netherlands. It is living proof of a landscape that has been managed with care and restraint for centuries.
Centuries of careful management
That De Wiersse has remained so rich is no coincidence. For centuries it has been managed with restraint and care. The 32-hectare parkland has never been ploughed, the coppice has been cut in a fixed cycle for generations, and on the farmland we work partly extensively, with room for herbs, field margins and hedgerows. In the woods, too, integrated management has been the guiding principle for decades, balancing landscape, ecology and timber production.
In this way the characteristic patchwork landscape is preserved: open hay meadows and fields, framed by copses, hedgerows and avenues, alternating with nature. We deliberately maintain this balance, and restore it where we can, so that the special nature of De Wiersse is preserved for future generations too.
