Nature house in Meppen

At this nature house, it’s dead quiet at night. In the morning, the birds sing, and sometimes you can see deer walking past the window. It’s truly a nature house in the middle of the woods near Meppen, a village with 350 residents halfway between Hoogeveen and Emmen. The cottage is made entirely of wood, was built in 1961, and remains largely in its original condition. It’s located in a section of the forest where the municipality once allocated plots for building cottages. There are no shared facilities; the cottage has a quarter hectare of forest all to itself. You can book up to one week in advance. In 2024, a completely new roof was installed, and all the electrical wiring was replaced. We made sure to preserve the cottage’s original charm.

The nature house is located on the edge of De Palms Nature Reserve, one of the most beautiful remaining areas in Drenthe, featuring heathland and (especially) plenty of juniper bushes. De Palms is part of the Mepperdennen. In recent years, the area has seen an increase in natural habitat (and there was already plenty to begin with). The stream valleys of the Geeserstroom, the Aalderstroom, and the Westerstroom were once severely degraded by land consolidation and canalization, but have been restored to a much more natural state. The entire area between Meppen, Zweeloo, Oosterhesselen, and Gees has become one large nature reserve, with the occasional patch of farmland or a small village scattered throughout. The villages are quiet Saxon hamlets full of farms, nestled among rolling ash groves and lower-lying stream valleys. Meppen itself is one such village, though it does have a nice restaurant (De Tramhalte) and a pizzeria (Trivio del Villaggio). For a bakery and supermarket, you’ll need to head to Aalden, a kilometer away. It’s a lovely bike ride.