The Dutch family love being outdoors in the forest. It has been a tradition in the family to spend walks in the forest and have birthday picnics. As a family, we are quite active in this, with my sisters-in-law searching and planning for new forests and nature estates to visit.
Last October, the family gathered again in Landgoed Zonheuvel in Doorn where the Castle Maarten Maartenshuis (Kasteel Maarten Maartenshuis) is located. We are frequent visitors here and we usually picnic right in front of the castle but on this Saturday there was an event held on the castle grounds—The Vegie Fair. So instead we camped a bit outside the grounds near the Zonheuvel conference centre. We still have a nice view of the surroundings and the castle though.
Oh, we had a little private tour of the castle many years ago by the way.
Another tradition we usually do during our forest picnics is for the family to pick chestnuts. The Dutch father likes to do this most especially. He always brings his little white canvas bag with him ready to fill them with chestnut goodies. We managed to pick some and walk around a bit in the forest as well. Landgoed Zonheuvel and Kasteel Maarten Maartenshuis is located in the middle of the forest—the Kaapse Bossen in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and there are many walking trails. Last weekend, Dutchman and I were back here, but I will post the pictures of our forest walk another time.
Because there is a Vegie Fair going on, I took the opportunity to check it out together with the Dutch mother. We walked around the fairgrounds and tasted a few of the organic food on offer.
I am not a vegetarian myself but I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. We just did our grocery shopping tonight and ¾ of the items in the shopping cart were vegetables and fruits. I was able to score a large orange bottle gourd (bottle pumpkin) which I will make into a thick yummy soup this weekend!
Below are the pictures of the Vegie Fair on the grounds of Kasteel Maarten Maartenshuis. The event is a 2-day event happening every year. Here is the website: Vegie Fair
Travel Period: October 2015
Destination: Doorn, Utrechtse Heuvelrug (Utrecht), The Netherlands
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