Wageningen Museum Village (Openluchtmuseum)

Wageningen has an open-air museum village, and visitors should confirm what is available before travelling. An open-air museum is a place where historic buildings, often moved from their original locations, are re-erected together to form a village, and it allows visitors to walk through a landscape of the past. The Netherlands has several, the best known being the Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem, and the idea fits the character of Wageningen, a town with a deep connection to the land.

Wageningen is the Dutch centre of agricultural and environmental science. Wageningen University and Research, which grew from an agricultural college founded in the nineteenth century, is one of the leading universities in the world in its field, and the town's identity is shaped by it. A museum devoted to rural life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would therefore be a natural fit, and the town has a museum on agriculture, the Landbouw Museum, among its sights.

The landscape around the town is a part of the story. Wageningen lies on the edge of the Rhine valley, with fertile floodplains on one side and the wooded Wageningse Berg on the other. In the floodplain, the nature reserve known as the Blauwe Kamer has been restored to a natural condition and is grazed by free-roaming cattle and Konik horses, with beavers and many birds. The Arboretum Belmonte, a historic garden and tree collection, adds a green space. A small ferry crosses the Rhine to Rhenen, and cycling and walking routes follow the dikes and the river.

The town itself has a lively market square, a university campus and a World Soil Museum, as well as an urban garden. In May 1945, Wageningen was the site of the negotiations that led to the German surrender in the Netherlands, in a hotel overlooking the river, and the event is commemorated each year on Liberation Day.

If you plan to visit the museum village, check the website or ask the tourist office about opening times, tickets and what is on display. The visit suits families and people interested in rural heritage, and it can be combined with a walk in the floodplain and a visit to the World Soil Museum.