Kasteel Hoensbroek

Hoensbroek is one of the largest castles in the region between the Meuse and the Rhine, built in stages from the fourteenth century when the Hoen family put up a round keep on marshy ground, extended in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into a full complex of three courtyards with towers, gatehouses and a moat, and now holding something over a hundred rooms. The family held it until 1721. It declined badly and was bought in 1927 by a foundation and restored, which is why it survives at all - the industrial district around it was expanding fast on coal at the time and the castle was in poor condition. It is now a museum with furnished rooms, an armoury, cellars and a route through the towers, and it is one of the more visited castles in the south, with a strong line in family activities and costume events.

What you actually see

• A fourteenth-century round keep - the oldest part, on the marshy original site.
• Three courtyards - the complex built up through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• Over a hundred rooms - furnished routes, armoury and cellars.
• A 1927 rescue - bought and restored when the coal district was expanding around it.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is heavily family-oriented with costume events and activities, which some visitors find intrusive. Restoration in the 1930s reconstructed a good deal. Busy in school holidays. Closed some winter days.

Nearby

Heerlen and Brunssummerheide are close; Maastricht is south-west.