{"id":142465,"date":"2022-07-28T12:56:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T10:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=142465"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:22","slug":"how-the-invented-nature-around-overveen-captures-the-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/07\/28\/how-the-invented-nature-around-overveen-captures-the-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"How the invented nature around Overveen captures the imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a child, editor Peer van Tetterode already used to wander the country estates around Overveen, where according to family myth once upon a time his distant ancestors were knights. To him, it’s a place to lose himself in history.<\/p>\n

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Ever since editor Peer van Tetterode was a child, he went to the estates near Overveen. <\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Large dragonflies hop from lily pad to lily pad, the colour of their wings constantly changing. I\u2019m four years old and my grandmother is holding my hand. Every week, she walks along the pond of the beige manor house on Elswout country estate. This is one of my first memories of nature.<\/p>\n

Elswout is one of the many country estates around Overveen, a village near Haarlem. In medieval times, it was called Tetterode, after the noble family who governed the land. My father often talks about the landed gentry and the knights of (Van) Tetterode. Once upon a time, there was supposedly a castle here and our family arms was made up of three lily pads. As a child, such stories captured my imagination, but they also raised questions. Now my home is a small terraced house with a garden that is just big enough for my bike, not a castle with an estate.<\/p>\n

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Teahouses can be found along the walking tracks in the Elswout estate.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Invented nature<\/h2>

The nature in Overveen also captures the imagination. Any visitor to the country estates around the village can easily get lost in the history and imagine themselves a lord or lady of the manor. This is easiest to see at Elswout. Everything you see has been invented over the centuries for the experience of the choosy walker.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t