De Alde Feanen

De Alde Feanen - the Old Fens - is about twenty-five square kilometres of lake, reed, fen and wet grassland in the middle of Friesland, and like most Dutch wetland it is a by-product of the peat industry: turf was cut here from the sixteenth century, the pits flooded, and what was left became the landscape. It is a national park and one of the more important Dutch breeding sites for black tern, which nest on floating vegetation and on rafts put out for them, along with purple heron, bittern, spoonbill and otter, which returned in the 2000s. Access is mostly by water: the visitor centre at Earnewald runs boat trips through the channels, canoes are hired, and the park connects to the Frisian lakes sailing network. There are walking routes and hides on the drier edges. Earnewald also has a skutsje, a traditional Frisian sailing barge, in a small museum.

What you actually see

• Lakes and fen from peat digging - twenty-five square kilometres of flooded workings.
• Black terns on rafts - one of the important Dutch breeding sites.
• Boat access - trips and canoes through channels that cannot be walked.
• Otters back - returned to the park in the 2000s after national extinction.

When to go

April to September. A day.

Honest expectations

The interior is water - walking access is limited to the edges. Mosquitoes are severe. Boat trips are seasonal and book up. Parts close in the breeding season.

Nearby

Leeuwarden is north-west; the Frisian lakes run south.