Kampina

Kampina is about eleven hundred hectares of heath, fen, grassland and woodland between Boxtel and Oisterwijk, and it is one of the larger surviving heaths in Brabant - most of the province's heath was ploughed up or planted with pine in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was acquired by Natuurmonumenten in 1929 in a campaign that involved a national appeal, with contributions collected from schools, and it has been managed since by grazing and mowing rather than left to scrub over. The Beerze runs through it, and a stretch of the stream was restored to meander in the 1990s after having been straightened, one of the earlier Dutch stream restoration projects. In late summer the heather flowers purple across the open ground. Sheep flocks graze it and there are wet heath sections with sundews and bog gentian.

What you actually see

• Eleven hundred hectares of heath - among the larger survivals in Brabant.
• A restored meandering stream - the Beerze given its bends back in the 1990s.
• Purple heather in August - the flowering across the open ground.
• Grazing management - sheep and mowing keeping the heath from scrubbing over.

When to go

August for the heather; April to September otherwise. A day.

Honest expectations

Ticks are a serious problem on heath - check afterwards. Paths are sandy and slow. Dogs must be leashed because of the grazing flocks. Parking fills on August weekends when the heather is out.

Nearby

Oisterwijkse Vennen adjoin to the north; Boxtel is west.