Just outside Amersfoort,  where intersecting motorways come very close to marking the geographical centre of The Netherlands, a wood of large, old trees betrays the existence of the old family estate associated with Huize Hoevelaken. The location of the earliest "castle' is not known but in ca 1410 it was a significant distance from the current "chateau" which dates from 1923. The estate was sold and split up in 1963. The "castle" and surrounding park belongs to the Bouwfonds Nederlands Gemeenten and most of the woodland is owned by the Stichting Geldersch Landschap. The foundation stone for “Op de Haar” which is situated in the middle of the wood was laid in 1958 and it is here that the last owners of the estate lived until 1987.

“Op de Haar” on the Veenwal means “on the rise in the fen” The house was built on ground which, locals relate, was previously a potato field and which is higher than the surrounding woodland. The woods to the south of the house were clearly very swampy in past centuries. History students will immediately identify the intact structure of a “rabattenbos” – a wood that was drained by excavating earth to create parallel ditches with elevated strips of land in between. These could date back as far as the 13^th Century and are still clearly visible today. Locals relate that wood growing on these strips was used for fuelling stoves until the early 1950’s. When we arrived in 1991, we found evidence of a lot of pollarding but much of the wood was impenetrably choked with brambles and many spindly silver birches. Many of the ditches were invisible due to this undergrowth and many of the smaller trees and shrubs had died through lack of light. Notably there was no birdsong to be heard. Today light filters through the trees and the wood is alive with the chattering of many different birds.

Other bits of history require that one looks at the large oak and beech trees. Some of the oak trees on the property are between 200-300 years old. Apart from the lines of beech trees flanking the road, which leads from the castle through the wood, there are remains of other avenues. One idea put forward is that these may be the remains of a “sterrenbos” (star-wood) planting which past owners of the estate used for hunting.

On the south side of the house the Abies grandis and Liriodendron (Tulip Tree) date from around 1958 as do some of the other large trees e.g. Castanea and Tilia. Rhododendron ponticum (cultivars) were also planted to provide some privacy around the house. Little else remains of the planting from these early days apart from the general layout in the immediate vicinity of the house. The brickwork paths and drive were put in by owners in the period 1987-1990 together with the pergola covered with wisteria to the south of the house and the small rose garden along with the surrounding hedges.

All of the rest of the design of the garden and the planting, including the pond, the Millennium garden and the clearing and the planting of the wood has been carried out by John and Joyce Ramsbotham since 1991.