Veluwezoom National Park

Veluwezoom was the first national park in the Netherlands, set aside in 1930, and it still feels like an estate that was handed over rather than a reserve that was designed. The ground rises into a ridge pushed up by ice, which by Dutch standards counts as hilly, and the open slope at the Posbank looks out over kilometres of heather and woodland with almost no buildings in the frame. Red deer, roe deer and wild boar live here, with Highland cattle put out to keep the heath from closing over. Entry is free and largely unfenced, paths run in every direction, and the climbs are long enough to matter on a bicycle. Late August turns the heather purple and autumn brings the deer rut.

What you actually see

• The Posbank - an open heather slope with a long view across the ridge, the one place in the park with a proper vista.
• Red deer and wild boar - present year-round, most active and most audible during the autumn rut.
• The heather in flower - purple across the open ground for a few weeks from late August.
• Beech and oak woods - old estate woodland in the valleys, at its best in October colour.

When to go

Late August into September for flowering heather, and mid-September into October for the deer rut, when stags can be heard across the valleys at dawn and dusk. Winter is bare but walkable and empty. Weekend afternoons in good weather are the worst time to arrive, especially at the main car parks near the Posbank.

Honest expectations

The Posbank is the honeypot: its car parks fill early on fine weekends and in heather season the paths carry a steady queue of people. Wildlife appears at dawn and dusk, which conflicts with a normal day out, so most visitors see nothing larger than a cow. There is little shelter on the open heath and, entry being free, facilities are minimal.

Nearby

Arnhem lies below the ridge, and the larger Veluwe heath and forest continue west.