The Charming Village of Vreeswijk in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has many charming small villages and because of the same Dutch-style brick-work architecture, the canals and the wooden draw bridges, to the untrained eye these cute villages might look very similar to each other.

I have travelled far and wide and I can tell you that the Netherlands has the best mundane villages. The locals here are obsessed with beautifying their houses, with gardening and landscaping. It is the horticultural capital of the world and you can really see this in the most mundane of all villages. Fixing and decorating the front yard is part of Dutch culture because the neighbours will reprimand you if you don’t tend it.

Whilst walking around Vreeswijk, I saw lovely gardens but didn’t really take pictures as I do not want to rouse homeowners wondering what I am up to, haha. I did have a chat with the volunteer man on the front door of the village museum (I didn’t go inside though). I asked him where ‘Vreeswijk’ got its name. Because if you literally translate Vreeswijk to English, it would mean ‘Fear district’ (you can also think of ‘scary district’ – lol).

But fear not, this is not the meaning of the village!

The man raised his eyebrows, as if recognising the accuracy of the question, or perhaps he was surprised why I asked, and explained to me that back in the 10th century people from the north—the ‘Fries’ came to work in Utrecht. There were no jobs in the north so many migrate to the cities. Because the city of Utrecht didn’t have enough housing available and was quite expensive as well to live, the Fries settled a few kilometres further south. So this village was originally a Fries settlement—Friesenwijk. In the later years, it became Vreeswijk.

Wijk in Dutch means district or neighbourhood. Since the 1970s, Vreeswijk has become a part of Nieuwegein.

I was not sure if I was happy with the very civil explanation of the history of Vreeswijk. A part of me would like to keep the mysterious thought and fearsome image of the village. It doesn’t hurt to ruffle a bit of speculation to liven up our senses, right? =)

These red and white wooden window shutters are very typical Dutch. You will find these in many castles and villages in the country.

Well I did manage to take a shot of this lovely bench decorated with flowers and plants in a garden of one of the village homeowners.

One of the two wooden draw bridges in the centre of Vreeswijk. This one is a foot bridge.

Basically the poster means patronising local products from the village.

This is the other wooden draw bridge. The difference is this is bigger and vehicles can pass here.

 

This is a very old men's hair salon that is still functioning in Vreeswijk. It is kind of a museum really.

It was autumn when Dutchman and I were there. We were actually treasure hunting with our metal detector nearby and I left the Dutchman to further hunt and visited the village on my own.

Here you can see both wooden draw bridges.

Saw a gelato store and bought my favourite lemon and pistacchio mix.

 I went around the village and came across this little fort, climbed the dike and this is what I saw. See below.

Visit Period: September 2014
Destination: Vreeswijk (Nieuwegein – Utrecht), Netherlands

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