Delegation location 10 - Nunspeet
It's taken a little while, but finally we have arrived at the tenth and last of the delegation locations. We find ourselves on the very northern edge of the Veluwe in what the Dutch host delegation unanimously voted the best place to live in in all of the Netherlands: Nunspeet, home to a little under 28 thousand people.
Nunspeet is the overarching municipality under which Vierhouten falls, and apart from Nunspeet proper there are a few more of these small towns around. It is a fairly popular tourist destination in the summer, since one goes south for a few minutes and stands in the forests, but there's also the Veluwe Lake to the north, a wonderful place to put on the ice skates...if ever there's a real winter again.
The Veluwe Lake, where one can enjoy wildlife of a certain ornithological kind, or a certain avian variety - plus it's great ice skating if it gets frozen!
Nunspeet was part of Ermelo long before the year 1000, just like Harderwijk. In the centuries after that however, Nunspeet developed into a more important location and since 1972 it is it's very own municipality. During the summer, the little lake the Zandenplas and it's beaches are very popular among locals, perfectly situated in the forest.
It ain't big, but it's got beaches and the smell of the forest, what more would one like apart from not having sand everywhere?
A local legend is about a woman called Eibertje. She lived in Vierhouten in the early 19th century and used to walk to the market in Nunspeet every week to sell eggs. She had to walk through a forest which locals deemed dangerous: ghosts, evil spirits and even Satan himself was said to live there. Eibertje kept on walking though and through the years, a path was created this way: the Eibertjespad, Eibertje's Path. One can still walk from Nunspeet to Vierhouten this way nowadays, or take the bike...but cycling would be too fast to hear Eibertje's (friendly!) whispers coming from the trees.
Nowadays there's asphalt on most of Eibertje's Pad, but walking in the area is still an excellent bit of leasure time
Another big local thing is the Round House, which once stood there until halfway in the 20th century. There's all kinds of conspiracy theories surrounding this house, which was built in the early 20th century. The conspiracy theories are truly wild and revolve around a sort of elite group - including royals - who brought young girls there to abuse while deciding the fate of the country. Oh yeah, you read that right, Nunspeet basically has it's very own Pizza Gate, long before the Americans did!
The Round House, the location of which - though hard to find exactly - can still be visited somewhere in the forest, if you know where to look...which a lot of digging conspiracy theorists do
Nunspeet is a part of the Bible Belt of the Netherlands, where the by far most strictly religious party is voted the biggest in national elections year after year. One can forgive Nunspeet this minor issue, the nature surrounding the village is truly wonderful...and there's a tower! There you go, Nunspeet, which by the way was liberated by the Canadians in the Second World War. There wasn't a whole lot of fighting done anymore here, but the Canadian tanks rolling in from Harderwijk were greeted warmly, before moving along to Elburg.
The Canadians were very welcome in 1945, and still are!
Delegations in Nunspeet
Canada
Great Britain
Slovakia
Netherlands