't Harde - Landgoed Zwaluwenburg - 't Harde

Huis Zwaluwenburg is one of the coolest and most beautiful 18th-century country houses in Gelderland. Surrounding it is a beautiful estate that resembles an open-air museum due to the many associated buildings. The variation in the landscape is great: meadows, fields and forest alternate. Wijnbergen Castle Huis Zwaluwenburg is located exactly at the transition between […]

Wijnbergen Castle

Huis Zwaluwenburg is located exactly at the transition between the high sandy soil of the Veluwe and the low, fertile clay soils. In the 12th century there were no dikes yet, and at high tide the Zuiderzee lapped up to the site of the house. As early as the 14th century, there was a predecessor of the current Zwaluwenburg, Wijnbergen Castle, here. One of the owners was the mayor of Harderwijk, Rutger van Haersolte.

Zwaluwenburg House

One of the mayor’s descendants had the current Zwaluwenburg House built in 1728. The low land was reclaimed and parceled out into large blocks, while a park-like estate was created on the south side: a special mix of 18th-century, straight avenues with 19th-century landscape style. In 1959, the estate came into the possession of several institutions that wanted to build a nursing facility here. However, a permit was never issued for this, so that Geldersch Landschap could take over the estate.

Open air museum

The current estate is a kind of open-air museum: in addition to the house, there are eight farms from the 18th and 19th centuries with old haystacks, hedgerows, avenues, steward’s house, wagon shed and a bakehouse. A care farm is housed in one of those buildings. The fields and meadows are also fully utilized and are dedicated to organic agriculture. Zwaluwenburg House itself is private property and not accessible.