Netherlands Trip - Wemeldinge      20th June:

Typical Wemeldinge House with Manicured Garden

    Yet another scorcher was in the offing. While I toiled over laundry duties, Rex hatched a plan for the following day. Rather than sail to Yerseke, which was not too far away, we stay put for one more night in Wemeldinge and walk to Yerseke the following day. At least we had a berth here, and since Yerseke only had a small number of berths, we could avoid the disappointment of finding it full. We both agreed it was a sound plan.
    Once my laundry had been sorted, and a sheet strung across the cockpit for shade, I took Rex on a hike past the windmills and skirting the south of town towards the Vliedberg and church. Substantial houses with large, lush gardens lined this route. On our left we passed a large sports complex comprising football fields, tennis courts and a football stadium - not bad for a small town.
    Eventually we reached a large pond in front of the church. Many water lillies lounged across the water, small fish darted about amongst the reeds and lillies, and the air above them continuously burst with flashes of blue as a myriad blue dragonflies patrolled the surface. At one time cows would have been seen walking down a slope into the pond for a refreshing drink. It was 25 degrees and we could have done with a dip too.

Wemeldinge Farm Near the Church

    The Dutch Reformed church is a double aisled church. The tower was built around 1350. The current spire dates from 1611. The church was enlarged in 1530. During the 1898 restoration, the entrance was moved to the choir. Sadly, as is often the case, the church was all closed up. A single gravestone stood in the grounds, dedicated to a lady from Middelburg who had passed away in 1866.
    The original village was built around three artificial hills, so-called 'vliedbergen'. These hills were built in the 13th century to live on, sometimes with a stronghold, to protect the people from enemy attacks. Apparently, near the church, there are two of these hills. The church itself was built on one of them, and the other is nearby in a private garden. We had trudged across town to see the famed Vliedberg of Wemeldinge, at 12m high, the highest vliedberg of Zeeland. We couldn't even see it since it was buried under a clump of trees. The third was levelled in the 19th century to raise the fields. What is special about Wemeldinge is that the church is in fact located outside of the village. After the great flood of 1134, the people moved close to the new dyke, which is presently Dorpsstraat. In the 19th century the village expanded in the direction of the canal, because that was where the jobs were. Interestingly, as a result, the oldest part of the village ultimately ended up on the outskirts.

Dorpsstraat

    We headed back to the centre of town via Dorpsstraat, Wemeldinge's main street. Dorpsstraat is a protected conservation area. The street, lined with 148 espaliered lime trees, is a feast for the eyes. As this street used to be a dyke, it is higher than the rest of the town. The dyke had once served as a place of refuge for citizens when the town was flooded. Eventually folk built houses on the dyke. Some of the facades in the street show the buildings' former function, such as the town hall and the Boerenleenbank (bank building). There are five places in Dorpsstraat from which narrow alleyways (slopjes) lead to the back roads. In these alleys, you will see that old bricks have been reused to build these houses. For the facades, on the other hand, new bricks were used. The alleyways are named after the people who used to live there.

Mustard Soup at Cafe de Zeevonk

Evening Meal Drinks

    We stopped off at Café De Zeevonk on the street for a cold drink and light lunch. "How did you know we were English?" Rex asked the waitress.
    "I heard you talking on the street," was her quick response, presented with a pleasant laugh. Rex devoured a huge plate of sausage meats, cheeses, gherkins and bitterballen. I had mustard soup which had drastic consequences later in the day.
    The town square was at the end of the street, nothing to write home about: a Spar, garage and school. Rex was getting agitated, there was nowhere he could buy cigarettes, not even the Spar. For variety, I dragged Rex over to the sea wall Promenade, and then back to home base.
    Evening was spent at a pleasant restaurant on the Binnendijk, just by the steps up to the Promenade. The food was good, so good that it inspired Rex to try and teach me how to roll my Rs (he reckons it is essential in the Dutch language, though he makes no effort to learn it). This ended in failure. Behind Rex, a Dutch chap had been seated, and he walked over to us after observing Rex's failed language lesson, and rattled off a Dutch tongue twister full of Rs. I gave up.