Heusden

About this place

Heusden is a fortified town on the river Maas in the south of the Netherlands, between Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch, about 12 km northwest of 's-Hertogenbosch and 39 km south of Utrecht in a straight line. The town began with the building of Heusden Castle, which replaced an earlier castle destroyed in 1202 and was expanded with water works and a keep. It received city rights in 1318, the castle passed to the Counts of Holland in 1357, and ramparts and moats were later built to bring the castle within the town's fortifications. The Loonse en Drunense Duinen national park, an area of sand dunes, lies nearby. At the heart of town a still old harbour is ringed by red-brick and white-plastered houses with stepped gables and tiled roofs, with a wooden windmill and a white drawbridge on its edge. Green earthen ramparts, bastions and moats surround the town, looking out over the Maas and the meadows. Visitors stroll around the harbour and the quiet cobbled streets and walk the ramparts for views of the river and windmills. The town is small and calm, makes a trip from 's-Hertogenbosch or Utrecht, and evenings by the harbour are lovely.