In Wapse, walking trails meet village history and a landscape shaped by fields. You can focus on different things when planning your stay: circular trails run through the Drents-Friese Wold National Park, while others explore the village’s surroundings and their historic sites. A recreational cycling route also passes through Wapse. When choosing your destination, you can decide whether you would rather explore on foot, by bike or with an eye to the region’s history.
Walking trails, forests and fields
The Drents-Friese Wold National Park has more than 130 kilometres of walking trails, divided among over 30 marked circular walks. In Wapse, the Wapser Ommetje Hoge Haar offers something distinctive: the route connects open fields and old, wooded hedgerows with a former dairy and a primary school. The landscape along the Ommetje Potties Bargen is different. Much of the route passes through the national park, among pine forests and along quiet sandy paths. The routes therefore differ mainly in the surroundings they describe: Hoge Haar focuses on village and field landscapes, while Potties Bargen features forests and sandy paths.
You can also explore a different part of the surroundings by bike. The 42-kilometre Wapse rond recreational cycling route passes through Wapse and along the Drents-Friese Wold National Park. Comparing the different routes reveals a variety of themes and ways to get around: marked circular walking trails in the national park, village routes featuring landscape and historic sites, and a longer recreational cycling route.
Esdorp and farming history
Wapse is an esdorp, a type of village whose origins date back to the Early Middle Ages. On Ten Darperweg stands the former cooperative butter and dairy factory, Ons Belang. It played an important role in the village and the surrounding farming community from the late 19th century onwards. The dairy opened in 1897 and produced butter, cheese and milk there until 1970. The school is also part of the history of Ten Darperweg: it moved into a new building there in 1874. The school still exists today and is called Ten Darperschoele.
The Wapser Boermarke route passes old farmsteads belonging to the medieval farming communities that make up Wapse. At Ten Have, the Binnenesch bears witness to more than 1,200 years of farming by the farmers of Wapse. Another historic site lies north of the village at Wapserzand: a hiding place from the Second World War where wounded resistance fighters were cared for. The occupying forces destroyed it; it was later rebuilt and fitted with a commemorative plaque. Potties Bargen is considered a historic burial mound site and is also known as Hunebed D52a.
Getting around locally
For the Hoge Haar route, you can park cars and bicycles at Wapse’s community centre. There is a bus stop on Ten Darperweg, level with the school, with services towards Diever and Steenwijk. If you are planning to travel by bus, check the timetable for your travel day. Two other points of interest are the observation tower behind Camping Noorderveld, which offers views over Wapse’s farmland, and Bakkersveentie, a wildlife park where walkers can watch animals during their walk.
The sandy path by Nijenhof runs between pastures and hedgerows, evoking the historic atmosphere of the esdorp landscape. The Kerkenkampsweg provides direct access from Wapse to the Drents-Friese Wold National Park on foot or by bike. Together with the trails through fields and village history, this gives you a concrete basis for considering Wapse as a destination for walking and cultural experiences.
Discover more destinations: Nijensleek, Doldersum, Wateren, Dieverbrug, Zorgvlied, Uffelte, Vledder, Frederiksoord.
For the broader travel overview: Westerveld.
