Every design for Almelo

On Wierdensestraat stands Bellinckhof, one of the villas the textile barons built when Almelo's mills were running at full tilt. A few streets away, Huize Almelo, the castle at the heart of the town, is still owned by the Van Rechteren Limpurg family and not open to the public.

Almelo sits in the middle of the rolling Twente countryside, with Enschede and Hengelo as its industrial neighbours and Ootmarsum, Delden and Markelo only a bike ride away. The town grew where the Almelose Aa crossed an old country road, and later the Overijssels Kanaal and the railway towards Salzbergen brought the steam age to its weavers. Workers came first from elsewhere in the Netherlands, then from Spain and Turkey, and the first mosque in the Netherlands was built here. Weekends belong to Heracles Almelo, playing in the Eredivisie at the Erve Asito stadium. The Wevershuisje and the Stedelijk Museum Almelo keep the story of the looms.

So whether you cheer at the Erve Asito or cycle out past Huize Almelo on a Sunday, this map is a little bit of your own Twente.