Kasteel Cannenburch

Maarten van Rossum was a soldier of the Duke of Guelders and then of Charles V, notorious in the Low Countries for the brutality of his campaigns and for a motto about burning and plundering being the ornament of war, and in 1543 he bought the ruins of a small castle at Vaassen and built himself a residence on the foundations. The Cannenburch is what he made: a Renaissance house with round corner towers and a moat, standing on the springline at the foot of the Veluwe where the water comes out of the sand. It passed to the Van Isendoorn family, who held it into the nineteenth century and furnished it, and the interiors show their period rooms with portraits, textiles and a collection. Around it are a formal garden, a coach house and a mill on the stream. The Veluwe forests and Apeldoorn's Het Loo palace are close.

What you actually see

• A mercenary's house - built in 1543 with the proceeds of Van Rossum's campaigns.
• Renaissance corner towers - the moated block on the Veluwe springline.
• Van Isendoorn interiors - furnished period rooms from the family's centuries here.
• A watermill and garden - the stream and formal grounds around the moat.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Guided routes with set times, seasonal, closed in winter. The village of Vaassen is ordinary. Van Rossum's reputation is not a comfortable subject and the house does not dwell on it.

Nearby

Het Loo palace at Apeldoorn is south; the Veluwe forests are east.