Huize Windesheim

Huize Windesheim is a former manor house and country estate in Windesheim, now part of Zwolle. Ruined walls, old farms, and a bridge over the former moat shape the view. The estate combines open parkland with surviving gates, bridges, garden ornaments, service houses, and a stable.

Reinier Schaep commissioned the original havezate around 1600, while Paulus Benelle replaced much of it with a larger house in 1744. Joachim van Plettenberg later commissioned architect Jacob Otten Husly to design the landscape park in 1789. Husly’s preserved park is considered his only surviving work of this kind in the Netherlands. L.A. Springer further developed the gardens in 1915, adding another layer to the landscape design. Incendiary bombs destroyed the main house on 20 October 1944, leaving cellar walls and other ruins among the surviving buildings.

Today, walking routes lead through the quiet park and along narrow shores where birds and other wildlife gather. The grounds became a national monument in 2005 and include a family grave belonging to the lords of Windesheim. Close by, Windesheim village adds an old church and windmill to the surrounding countryside.