The system of stream valleys of the Drentsche Aa has been a geological monument since Thursday 10 July. Alderman Ivo Berghuis of Aa en Hunze and Henk Jumelet, a member of the provincial executive of Drenthe, unveiled an information panel by the Deurzerdiep stream that day.

A new 2.3-kilometre walking route, which runs past the monument and along the Deurzerdiep, starts at the Huis van de Drentsche Aa information centre and Bistro Aa in Deurze. The route is part of the network of numbered walking junctions, and seven organisations worked on it, including the nature education organisation IVN, the National Park, Geopark De Hondsrug, the municipality and the province.

From Monday 14 July to Monday 25 August, primary school children can pick up a word puzzle at Bistro Aa to solve along the way. Those who finish it get a token for an ice cream at the bistro.

With this designation, Drenthe now has fourteen geological monuments. The province designates such places because they show how ice, wind and water shaped the landscape, and in this way it wants to introduce more people to the history of Drenthe's soil.

General

National Ombudsman hears complaints about earthquake damage in Ekehaar

July 4, 2025 2 min read

Ekehaar in the summer of 2021 Photo: Ahospers, CC BY-SA 4.0

National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen has visited the village of Ekehaar to hear how residents have experienced the handling of their damage claims after three earthquakes. He will return after the summer.

Van Zutphen spoke there with residents, with representatives of Dorpsbelangen, the village association, and with mayor Anno Wietze Hiemstra. According to the municipality of Aa en Hunze, residents are struggling with the way the Commissie Mijnbouwschade, the body that deals with mining damage, assesses and settles their claims: they find the damage reports incomprehensible and the cost of calling in experts high, and they feel a lack of recognition and fairness.

The visit was a first exploration, but according to Hiemstra, Van Zutphen has promised to look into the matter and to see what he can do with central government. The municipality says that what he heard in Ekehaar resembles what came to light earlier about mining damage in Groningen.

“We are glad that the National Ombudsman has entered into dialogue with residents,” says Hiemstra.

The municipality still hopes that the Minister of Climate and Green Growth will also accept its invitation and come to talk to residents of Ekehaar. Hiemstra believes that damage outside Groningen should also be handled more simply and more humanely.

The National Ombudsman monitors how the government treats citizens. The damage in Ekehaar comes from three earthquakes caused by gas extraction in the Eleveld gas field, close to the village.

General

The hamlet of Balloërveld has its own flag featuring a heath sheep

June 30, 2025 · 1 min read

On Saturday 21 June, the hamlet of Balloërveld officially raised its own flag, which the residents of its eight houses designed themselves.

The purple on the flag stands for the heather and the yellow for the sandy plains, with a heath sheep from the flock that grazes the Balloërveld heath in the middle. With the flag, the residents want to show how connected they are to each other and to their surroundings.

A nest box with the same picture as the flag, made by resident Jan Lammers, also hangs on every house. From now on, the residents want to mark the raising of their flag every year on 21 June.

The sunken N33 at the Gieten interchange in 2024

General

National Ombudsman hears complaints about earthquake damage in Ekehaar

Work at the Gieten junction closes the N33 and N34 in the evenings and at night

N376 near Rolde to close for maintenance and safer bends

Roldermarkt Sunday starts with some 650 people at breakfast

Gallery

More on this topic

Work at the Gieten junction closes the N33 and N34 in the evenings and at night

N376 near Rolde to close for maintenance and safer bends

Roldermarkt Sunday starts with some 650 people at breakfast