Dwingelderveld National Park

Dwingelderveld in Drenthe is the largest wet heathland in western Europe, some thirty-seven square kilometres of moor, fen and low sandy rise, made a national park in 1991. People have been on this ground a long time without ever pressing hard on it: Celtic fields and burial mounds are still legible in the heather, and old trade routes toward Germany cross it. Reclamation was proposed in the 1930s and headed off by conservation groups buying the land. Among the pools are pingo ruins left by the last glaciation. Juniper grows in scattered stands, and sheep still graze the heath to keep it open.