Every design for Maarssen

Goudestein stands on the bank of the Vecht in Maarssen, one of the country houses that wealthy Amsterdam families such as the Huydecopers built along the river once the Middle Ages were over. Doornburgh is another. Behind them the old village goes about its day, called Maarssen-dorp by locals, with the tufa tower of its Reformed church dating back to the twelfth century. To the west, across the canal, lies Maarssenbroek, newer and busier, where the railway station is. The people of both halves are Maarssenaren, and since a municipal merger they belong to Stichtse Vecht.

Maarssen lies just north of the city of Utrecht, between the Vecht and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, on the old route between Utrecht and Amsterdam. That position brought boat traffic, then a road, a railway and finally the canal. Brickworks came early, and later a quinine factory and an oil factory whose workers settled in their own neighbourhood, the Friezenbuurt. The Vechtstreekmuseum gathers these stories.

Coming home means crossing the canal, seeing the old church tower above the roofs and knowing you are back where you belong.