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Cycle past the flamboyant country estates of former textile barons

Cycling holiday Industrial Heritage Twente

During this cycling holiday, you dive into Twente’s textile past. From Lonneker and Delden, you cycle to the former factory owners’ estates around Oldenzaal, the industrial city of Hengelo, Haaksbergen, and across the border to Gronau in Germany. Never has a history lesson been so engaging, beautiful, and relaxing. » read more about Cycling holiday Industrial Heritage Twente

Boetiekhotel bij Jacob in Lonneker & Hotel Het Witte Paard in Delden
Lonneker, Enschede, Oldenzaal, Hengelo, Delden, Haaksbergen, Gronau
Cycling through Twente’s textile past

GPS APP E-bike Zwaarte zwaarte_1

Cycling holiday
Centre based tour
5 days
Individual

from 510 p.p.
excl. additional costs

Prices and dates

from 510 p.p.
excl. additional costs

Prices and dates

Twente Textile Industry

About 100 years ago, the Twente textile industry accounted for 20% of the national income. This industry has now almost disappeared, but it has left its mark everywhere: old factories that have been repurposed; garden villages built for the workers; city villas built by manufacturers for themselves; and cultural facilities such as the Rijksmuseum Twente. Outside the city, every manufacturer had a country estate to enjoy the summer. These evolved into parks or estates with extensive forests, which are now part of Twente’s natural monuments.

Enormous Contrasts

Factory owners needed affordable housing for their workers. Under the initiative of the Van Heek company, the white garden village of Pathmos was created in Enschede. It had its own facilities such as shops, church, school, a bathhouse, and communal green spaces. The route to Oldenzaal takes you past the flamboyant manufacturer estates, which stand in stark contrast to the workers’ homes.

Roombeek

On May 13, 2000, a fire broke out in a fireworks storage facility in an old factory hall in Roombeek. A series of explosions followed. 23 people lost their lives, and a large part of the district was destroyed. From the ashes, a beautiful new neighborhood has risen, in which the industrial heritage holds a special place.

Roombeek Balengebouw

Twickel Estate

In 1886, the Baron of Twickel commissioned a drilling for drinking water. Water was indeed found, but it was salty – a discovery with consequences, explained in the Zoutmuseum in Delden. On the more than 4,000-hectare estate, you will find not only extensive forests but also the characteristic, small-scale Twente farmland with its hedged meadows, gently rolling fields, and streams with centuries-old watermills.

Art of the Textile tycoon

After textile baron Jan Bernard van Heek passed away in 1923 at the Zonnebeek estate, just outside Enschede, he left behind more than two hundred valuable paintings. His plan to make them accessible to the public was carried out by his family. In 1930, the Rijksmuseum Twenthe opened its doors, where the paintings can still be seen today. The museum was donated to the state.

Zonnebeek

Garden Village 't Lansink

In 1911, steel manufacturer Stork independently built a garden village unique in the Netherlands. Along the streets surrounding the village square, smaller and larger houses with gazebos and sizable gardens were constructed. Directors, office workers, and laborers lived side by side and together. The large pond was Hengelo’s first “swimming and bathing facility.”

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Cycling holiday Industrial Heritage Twente

Prices and dates

Routes

During this varied cycling tour, you ride from Lonneker and Delden through the centuries-old Twente landscape, past industrial heritage sites and country estates on the Oldenzaal hills, and across the vast Twickel Estate. You can even make a detour across the border, where traces of Twente’s textile past can also be found.