Netherlands Guide
The eastern Netherlands
The Hoge Veluwe National Park
Spreading north from the Open-Air Museum is the Hoge Veluwe National Park ( 
www.hogeveluwe.nl ), an area of sandy heath and thick woodland. Just ninety minutes by train from Amsterdam, the impressive Kröller-Müller Museum and Europe's largest sculpture garden lie at the heart of 5500 hectares of national park. Cycle paths wind through this beautiful nature reserve, home to wild game and inland sand dunes as well as over a thousand free white bicycles which can be used to explore it all. Today, the park is one of the region's most popular day-trip destinations, with its perfect blend of nature and art.
The park was formerly the private estate of Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller. Born near Essen in 1869, Helene Müller came from a wealthy family whose money was made in the blast-furnace business. She married Anton Kröller of Rotterdam, whose brother ran the Dutch side of their trading interests, and the couple's fortunes were secured when the death of her father and his brother's poor health placed Anton at the head of the company at the age of 27. Apart from extending their business empire and supporting the Boers in South Africa, they had a passionate desire to leave a grand bequest to the nation, a mixture of nature and culture which would, she felt, "be an important lesson when showing the inherent refinement of a merchant's family living at the beginning of the century". She collected the art, he the land, and in the 1930s ownership of both was transferred to the nation on the condition that a museum was built in the park. The museum opened in 1938 and Helene acted as manager until her death in 1939.