Dommeldal - The Green Forest

Along the Dommel, between Sint-Oedenrode and Boxtel, you will find a relict of a traditional cultural landscape with fields, meadows and bushes. It is part of the National Landscape Het Groene Woud. The Dommeldal is a characteristic lowland stream system. The river meanders very strongly and also has cut off, old meandering courses. The farms were built on the higher deck sand ridges and deck sand heads. Around those farms you can see the convex fields. Around 1900, this Dommeldal had a small-scale agricultural agriculture. With the advent of modern agriculture, small landscape elements such as hedgerows and bushes disappeared due to economies of scale. The Dommel and the Keersop were largely straightened. You can still see what it once looked like in the National Landscape Het Groene Woud. In the 19th century there were almost 20 watermills on the slow-flowing Dommel. You can still see the mill of Waalre from 1792. In many places the roads and paths run along the stream valleys to which they run parallel.

Pieter Erauw