Mills and Storks

The Mills:

Thinking of mills, Holland comes to mind, though this generally refers to the northern part of The Netherlands. However, take a look from the top of the Martinus Tower Visitor’s Centre and you will immediately see 3 mills. The large number of water and windmills in the Land of Maas and Niers is quite surprising. The surprise will be even greater when you hear that more than half of the mills on the eastern banks of the Maas river did not survive the 2nd World War. Some of them have been replaced by windmills from other parts of Holland, such as the Gerarda, the thatch roofed mill in Heijen which formerly stood in the northern province of Friesland. Each of these monumental windmills has its own tale to tell. The same applies to the watermills, of which the oldest, the Bovenste Plasmolen at the foot of the St Jansberg, is in operation and open to the public during the summer months.

The storks:

In the year 2000 a pair of storks settled on one of the chimneys of the historical town hall building. After the storks had left for Africa to winter, the nest was moved to another chimney that was not in use and a special steel frame was constructed to hold the nest.
The effort was well worth it as since then the storks have repeatedly found their way back to Gennep and rear their young here in summer. From the terraces on the old Market Place you can watch the flight lessons and the first flight of the young storks. Since 2010 the storks also spend the winter months on their nest in Gennep. Meanwhile they have become part of the general attraction of the old historical Market Place and in the summer months they give the impression that they actually enjoy the annual festivities held on the ground down below them every Saturday.