History

Middachten Castle’s location was no coincidence.  It boasts a strategic location between the high Veluwezoom and the low swampland in a loop of the river Ijssel.  Middachten Castle was therefore built on an excellent defence location.  The castle and its forecourt were originally a reinforced house with moats and thick walls, within which the residents could feel relatively safe during attacks.

 

Middachten was first mentioned in 1190 as a property owned by Jacobus de Mithdac.  Everardus van Middachten transferred the ownership (as protection) to Reinald Count van Gelre at the start of the 14^th century.  Everardus subsequently received it back on loan from the count.  Everardus van Middachten is the forefather of all the later van Middachten Ladies and Gentlemen.

 

It is extraordinary that Middachten has never been sold.  It has been inherited by both male and female lines and has been in the hands of the Steenre, Raesfelt, Reede, Bentinck and now Ortenburg families.  The estate also consists of forests and farms, in addition to the castle and its forecourt.  All the buildings which form part of the estate are instantly recognisable as a result of the red and white painted shutters.  Red and white are the colours of the van Middachten family coat of arms.

 

The year 1673 is important in the history of Middachten.  The French troops withdrew after the provincial governor Willem III conquered Bonn from the French people.  Middachten was owned by Godard van Reede and his wife Ursula van Raesfelt.  The castle was destroyed and Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn provided Godard van Reede with the inspiration to renovate the destroyed castle (1694-1697).

 

The medieval castle’s courtyard was turned into an impressive staircase and closed off with a dome richly decorated with stucco.  The castle hasn’t undergone any other structural changes since this renovation.  However, the interior has seen some changes during the course of the centuries and this has left some traces.  The layout of the lower house has been changed in accordance with the demands of time on several occasions.

Work on the garden was officially started after the castle was rebuilt in 1698.  The gardens of Versailles represented an inspirational source for the garden’s ground plan (the walls, moats and lanes) from 1700 to 1725.  A formal garden was created within this structure, with sheared hedges, designer trees and steep taluds.

 

The English landscaped gardens became fashionable at the end of the 18^th century and the Middachten gardens were subsequently changed to a limited extent in line with this fashion.  The hedges disappeared and beautiful grass lawns and groups of trees were planted. 

 

Count and Countess Bentinck-van Heeckeren van Wassenaer subsequently tasked Hugo Poortman (one of the French garden architect E. André’s students) with the creation of a formal garden in 1900.  However, certain aspects of the English landscape garden did need to be preserved in this new design.  The garden then became what you can still admire today.

 

A strong sobering down of the Middachten garden took place during the years which followed the Second World War.  This included, for example, the removal of the large ‘parterre de broderie’ (an embroidery of decorative buxus hedges).  Other parts of the garden disappeared too, so the design was increasingly reduced down to linked grass lawns.  However, the original ground plan always remained intact.

 

The major restoration of the castle from 1967 to 1971 was the reason for the initial recovery plan for the gardens.  Renovation works were started during the nineteen eighties, the results of which are now evident.

 

Some interesting elements in the garden include the open air theatre with taxus hedges, including a rose platform with old, colourful and fragrant roses which climb along a unique trellis:  an espalier in rococo style.  You will also find rare types of trees in the gardens, like the Lebanon Cedar and the Ginkgo Biloba. 

The construction of the current 'Middachter Allée' (a local famous road with beautifull beechtrees) was started in 1640. Oak trees were planted, whereby the tops have grown together during the course of time to form a type of dome.

 

The 'Middachter Allée' was replanted for a second time in 1760, but this time with beech instead of oak trees.

 

The 'Middachter Allée' was again made up of beech trees at the start of the twentieth century, which by then had reached the very honourable age of approximately 130. Some of these trees were blown up during the last years of the Second World War.

 

The lane was renewed in two phases during the nineteen fifties.The tops of the trees have now grown together again to such an extent that the dome of yore has been restored.

Part of the driveway leading up to the castle has again been planted with beech trees in 2006 (at right angles to Middachter Allée). The old beech trees had certainly served us well after 250 years!