"Perfect example of Wim Sonnevelt's "Het Dorp"" Heythuysen by Pavlik_NL

In the Mid-Limburgian landscape there are numerous villages. Heythuyzen however immediately jumps out when I run over the map or a list of names. This is the village where my mother was born and raised. Here my grandparents lived until they went ... much to early. Lately I returned to it, after an absence of at least 20 years. To go back in memory lane and find only a few places that I immediately recognised. Literally shocked from the violent renovations they did here and little bit sad ... I returned home with a song in my head that in The Netherlands is quite famous: Wim Sonnevelt's "Het Dorp" = The Village (see my general tip).

Grandfather and -mother, me and "meeeeeh"

Philips is now-a-days quite a famous name worldwide. This Dutch electronica giant has factories all over the globe and is one of the world leaders in audio and video (not to forget inventor of the CD). In a distance my mother is related to the famous Philips branche, but not that I now own loads of stocks of the company. My grandfather was carpenter (we even have antique tools used to make wooden shoes!) and they later had a toy shop. Being the grandchildren, you can imagine me and my sister always loved to go to "Oma & Opa" in Heythuyzen.

The old watermill in the "Leu"-valley

Though Heythuyzen - in my opinion - is brutally ruined by new buildings and renovations, the wonderful natural area of the "Leudal" (dal = valley) is still just East of the village. This foresty lands on each side of the winding little river "Leu" are a delight for walking. The water running by with it's specific sound reaches it's most beautiful sound near the old watermill of Saint Ursula.