Hericks Family Farm in Ratum, Netherlands
On this page you will find photos of the Hericks Family Farm in Ratum, Netherlands provided by Leo and Tineke Ooijkaas, Haaksbergen, Holland. In July 2002, they decided to go to Ratum in order to find the Hericks place and see what it would look like. Leo and I had been cooresponding for sometime and he continuely offered to visit the farm. So, I want to thank Leo and Tineke for their findings and time. God bless you both! They found the road on which it stands, a small farm road, but since they had no house number of the place and did'nt see any signs, they stopped where they thought it should be and asked a person living in one of the farm houses. He immediately invited them into his garden, and told them that they were at the farm next door. The address is: Hericks, Ratumseweg 61, 7106 CH, Winterswijk-Ratum, The Netherlands. Very close to the German border. But the neighbor also told them that the place was deserted over a year ago. The farm was used for a camping grounds the last few years. It was sold to a nearby farmer who does nothing with the place, just leaves it the way it is. What they found, was a deserted place, about one hundred meters off road, with weeds growing everywhere, but no doubtly the Hericks place as they could see on the sign on top of the barn. The main place consist of two barns and two homes, one slightly greater than the other. The smallest one with the wrought iron numbers, 1881 or 1887 on it. The biggest one surely is much older and both are build that specific way farms are build through centuries in this particular part of the country. Some background information on the area: The area around the city of Winterswijk is slowly glowing hillside and shows mainly characteristic farms, winding small roads, many small woodlands, grass lands, agriculture fields, that are intersect with small meandering booklets. The "Achterhoek" belongs to the oldest culture landscapes from the Netherlands. Great parts of the area were developed before the end of the 19th century and consist of the so called "Oude Hoeven-landschap" (Old homestead-landscape). Now a days, when farming becomes less, many of the farm houses are bought by people from the big cities in the west, and changed in either second homes or a home in the country to live in while being an old pensioner, like the neighbor they spoke to. Here are the photo's that Leo and Tineke Ooijkaas took on their visit:
As you can see the name Hericks still is on the building.
The barn, on the north. The wooden tops are typical for the area
The great home, on the southside. Inside the house I could see a fireplace that used to have a mantelpiece, but the tiles, painted brown figures, were still on the wall.
The small home, south side
Another, later type, barn, on the eastside
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