A Walk & Tea in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug Forest in Doorn, Netherlands

Dutchman and I havenâ€™t been in the woodlands a lot this year. We would have wanted to but sometimes the reality of our weekend lives just gets in between. There is no doubt that we love sleeping in. Nothing is as perfect as a lazy do-nothing weekend. So yeah, 2014 hasnâ€™t been very productive in the forest walking trail activity.

It is always a delight when we see an older couple walk together hand in hand.

The last time we did a forest walking trail was last May in Doorn, in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. The Utrechtse Heuvelrug is a district but at the same time it is the name of a national park, about 6,000 hectares in size. It is composed of a network of forests where you can find all sorts of trails. For walking, biking and even for horse-back riding.

We followed two trails, the Stameren and Hoog Moersbergen. We usually spend at least an hour and a half walking, sometimes more, like if we get lost, which happens sometimes, but fortunately forests in the Netherlands arenâ€™t huge. You cannot wander away far too long without seeing any directions, a living being, a house, a cafÃ© restaurant and a parking area.

After walking, it is a customary habit for us to have tea and some pastry. In the Netherlands, the forests are popular places for traditional Dutch pancake restaurants and eetcafes. The latter is something like a bistro that serves lunch and afternoon tea. It cannot get more Dutch than this.

Not for long we came upon Eet & CafÃ© Onder de Pannen. The locationof the cafe is in the middle of the forest nearby an access road. We took a table in the outdoor terrace and ordered each a little pot of tea and an apple tart with whipped cream on top.

Weekends should be like this.

Our walking trail for the weekend afternoon.

Here I am, not really taking a rest. I just want the Dutchman to take a picture of me =)

Walking in the forest is a popular activity by many couples here in the country. We have been doing this for years already and we always notice pairs walking in the forest. Sometimes we see a couple with their dog, and other times, with their children.

We spotted trees which were too early for autumn. It is just May when we were here and these two trees are already red orange and the other dark violet?

A close up of the pinnacle of an ant hill. The ants here in the Netherlands are humongous.

We have arrived in the other walking trail. We are taking the direction to the cafe restaurant.

This cluster of orangey mushrooms clinging on to a tree was just begging to be photographed.

The road to the cafe and a lonely house in the woods. I am not sure if I would like living in the woods with very few to almost no neighbours.

Don’t you just love the cute tea pots sitting on top of the teacup and saucer? It is very Cath Kidston. Too girly for the Dutchman and too dainty for me. Its all nice actually, I should not complain =)

This apple tart, topped with lots of thick whipped cream and sprinkled with chocolate powder was scrumptious. Definitely a 4.4 stars in my food tripping book.

My boots were dirty from the forest walk and here is the Dutchman pouring hot water into the tea cup. We did not realise at first that the tea pot is separate from the tea cup, we thought it was a whole thing itself. See previous photo above.