The ANWB is running a competition to find the loveliest village, with Winsum in Groningen and Hollum in Friesland on the shortlist
Translated by Thomas Ansell
The Groninger village of Winsum has been named one of the five ‘most lovely villages in the Netherlands’ by the ANWB (Dutch touring association). It is joined on the list by Hollum in Friesland, Elsloo in Limburg, Oisterwijk in Noord-Brabant’, and Urk in Flevoland. As reported by the GIC.
During the competitions earlier rounds, around 30,000 Dutch residents submitted their vote for the ‘loveliest village’. The Top-50 list includes the Groninger villages of Garnwerd, Middelstum, Niehove; and Zoutkamp, as well as Frederiksoord, Gees, and Havelte in Drenthe.
A winner will now be chosen by a special jury that visited the various top-5 villages last week. The criteria for the title include ‘authenticity’, ‘spacial coherence’, ‘liveliness’; ‘relationship of built environment to greenery’, and the presence of national monuments and beautiful buildings.
The winner will be announced on Monday August 17, with a special award ceremony to be held in the winning village on Thursday August 20.
Image: Molenstraat in Winsum via Wikimedia user Hardscarf. License here.
