Nederland - Delden, Kasteel Twickel

(The main picture of the forecourt is a stitch of three images.)

Kasteel Twickel (Twickel Castle), near Delden, is located, for almost seven centuries in the middle of a beautiful estate, reaching out over five parishes. The oldest parts of the castle - among which the tower at the front - date from the 15th century. Throughout the centuries the castle has been extended and beautified. The buildings, stables and coach house, situated in the forecourt, where added to the castle during the 18th century. Twickel Castle is still inhabited and surrounded by a beautiful park and garden ( www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/48906350 ).

Twickel estate is a unique historical country estate in Twente, in the East of the Netherlands. It covers no less than 4.100 hectares and includes 150 farms with agricultural land and meadows, interspersed with moorland, fens and woods. The oak woods have long been famous, not just because of their beauty, but also because of the quality of the wood they produce. The characteristic farms can be recognised by their black-and-white shutters.

Between 1347 and 1953, Twickel was in the possession of successive members of the same family. The last owner, Baroness Van Heeckeren van Wassenaer-Countess of Aldenburg Bentinck, who had no children of her own, decided in 1953 to establish the Twickel Foundation in order to preserve the estate. When she set up the foundation, Baroness Van Heeckeren determined that the castle should remain inhabited.