Nederland - Egmond aan Zee, Wimmenummerduinen

The Wimmenummerduinen (Dunes of Wimmenum) are located between the coastal villages of Egmond aan Zee and Bergen aan Zee.

The inhabitants of Egmond aan Zee - so called “derpers” (villagers) - still call the dune area Duinen van Six. In 1679, Jan Six - a regent and writer descended from a wealthy family - bought the area around the village of Wimmenum. Six belonged to the in-crowd of Amsterdam and is friends with Rembrandt van Rijn. A portrait the painter painted of him is world-famous today. The dune area was the family's fenced-off hunting domain until it was sold to the of provincial water supply company of the province of North Holland (PWN) in 1992.This company has opened the site to visitors.

The Wimmenummerduinen are characterized by an open dune landscape with several dune lakes, wet valleys and drifting dune tops. Large pieces of dune have been blown away here and there in the foredune (main picture). Horses graze the dunes here to keep the landscape open. It is considered one of the most beautiful stretches of untouched dunes in the province of North Holland.

During our 2024 visit, we were surprised by the large number of dune valleys filled with water. As far as I understand, this is caused by the high groundwater level due to the heavy rainfall in the preceding months.