Lutterzand

Almost every watercourse in the Netherlands has been straightened, dyked or canalised, which makes the Dinkel at Lutterzand unusual: it is a small river left to wander, and it does - cutting into the sandy banks on the outside of its bends and depositing on the inside, so it exposes cliffs of pale sand several metres high, undercuts trees and shifts its channel measurably from year to year. Old courses are visible as loops in the surrounding ground. The reserve around it holds drift sand, juniper, oak and pine woodland and heath on the terraces above, and it is one of the better places in the country to see how a natural sand-bed river behaves. Junipers here form one of the larger Dutch stands. The German border is a couple of kilometres away and the Dinkel crosses it repeatedly on its way north.

Highlights

• A river left to wander - the Dinkel cutting and depositing without engineering.
• Sand cliffs - pale banks several metres high on the outside of the bends.
• Old courses in the ground - abandoned loops visible in the surrounding terraces.
• Juniper stands - among the larger surviving groups in the country.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Good to know

Bank edges are undercut and collapse - stay back from the cliff tops. Paths flood after heavy rain. Ticks are common. The reserve is small; half a day is enough.

Nearby

Oldenzaal is south-west; the German border is a couple of kilometres east.

Key facts