De Manteling is a large expanse of forest area that stretches along the coastline of Veere, a province of the island that houses Zeelands capital, Middelburg. Although Zeeland is well known for its summer towns and beaches, there are also extensive walking and hiking areas on all of the islands. De Mantling is, as with most coastal landscapes in the Netherlands, a mixture of dunes and forest path but one of the best parts of this walk is a dip into the all year round, dog friendly Berkenbosch Beach! (leash free outside the summer months)
As with most of Zeeland, since it caters primarily for tourism, there is limited access to the beaches, and nearly everywhere dogs are banned from the beaches during the day and need to be leashed through pretty much all dune and forest areas. So although this is not really a “loslopen” area, just the fact that it has an all day beach for dogs makes it worthwhile adding.
We parked at Car park, Domburgseweg 59, 4356 NA Oostkapelle, right next to the Terra Maris museum. Walk towards the public toilet block and follow that pathway into the park. Here it is also signposted for the Strandpaviljoen Berkenbosh – your pups ultimate goal! Every now and then you will also see signs for shortcuts the beach (Strand), or of course you can ignore these signs and take the scenic route there.
You can of course just take a direct line towards the beach, which will take you perhaps 15 minutes or so, or you can make the most of being here and wind around the mixture of open dune pathways and lesser used but much more shaded forest pathways. All on leash but it’s still an interesting walk. Many areas and pathways are open and exposed to the elements but you will find parallel pathways hidden between the shady trees.
And because there are so many other holiday attractions nearby, there are not so many people just ambling through the forest, making the whole place quite relaxing to stroll through.
Very close to the car park is the Castle Westhove (how a hotel) which has some lovely waterways around it for a quick, freshwater plunge or two, but we did not come across any other water en route to the beach, so best to carry extra with you on a hot day.
Pros:
- Not very busy on the forest walks
- Interesting range of landscapes
- The Dog Beach!
Cons:
- It’s nearly all a leash only walk
- Limited freshwater pools for drinking
Location:
Loslopen.net 