To the Kienehoef

Details: Parent Category: North Brabant province; Category: North Brabant - Walks; Last Updated: 22 September 2023; Hits: 684

Moderate

Hike to the recreation park Kienehoef and then along the Dommel on the outskirts of Sint-Oedenrode, through the old town center and the Dommel valley back to Olland.

To the Kienehoef

To the Kienehoef

Distance: 19 km

Duration: 4h30

Grade: Moderate

Gps track: Yes

Route description: Yes

Type: Circular walk

Height gain: Flat

Way mark: See PDF route description

Wheelchair: Unsuitable

Dog: Not Allowed

The first part of the hike goes through an agricultural area called the Schijndelse Heide. The once 1000 hectares of heathland has been completely cultivated. Jacob Kien city holder of Peelland from 1763 to 1775 bought some newly constructed "pile driving camps" that were known under the name Arbeidslust. These "pile driving camps" formed the first recesses of the Schijndelse Heide. The recreation park Kienehoef, which is named after this Jacob Kien, was built as an employment project during a crisis with a lot of unemployment in the 1930s. On the way back, the hike goes past the mining farm Hoeve Arbeidslust or Kienehoef. In Sint Oedenrode you will pass some characteristic white houses, castle town hall Dommelrode or De Bocht and castle Henkenshage. The characteristic white houses, the former guest house Sint-Paulusgasthuis, were inhabited until 1972 by poor single women of impudent behavior. Currently, the tourist office and Museum of Brabant Hats and Poffers are housed in the white houses. Castle-town hall Dommelrode or De Bocht is originally a moated and fortified house from the sixteenth century that was located in a bend of the Dommel. Henkenshage Castle is a castle-like building in Sint-Oedenrode. In fact, the building is not a real castle, but a country house.