Fraeylemaborg, Slochteren
The Fraeylemaborg, Slochteren, dates back to the middle ages and was built as a home for a family of nobles.
The impressive stone house is surrounded by a moat and stands in a big park.
See how the moat was frozen when we visited the Fraeylemaborg?
On the premisses you also find the former Treasury-house, now a restaurant, and a greenhouse or Orangerie.
The former Treasury-house now restaurant.
Warming up on a cold day, while having lunch at the restaurant of the borg.
From nobles home to museum with style rooms
Today, the Fraeylemaborg is a museum with style-rooms, decorated as in ‘the old days’.
Salon for the ladies of the house.
Walking through the rooms gives you an idea of what daily life (of the rich, that is) looked like, back then.
Cool tin!
Dutch version of Downton Abbey
Think Downton Abbey in a modest, Dutch, countryside-ish way;-).
They now use these two rooms-en-suite for meetings and lectures. Lots of royalty pics; our queens apparently all visited the borg. Did you know that my family name -van der Vorst- means ‘from the king’? Kinda royal myself, see?!
These Dutch nobles had a bell-cord to summon the butler, just like the aristocracy of Downton Abbey.
If these portraits of former residents are accurate, then their money was way better than their looks, I’m afraid;-).
The Fraeylemaborg is one of 16 borgen that Groningen still has today.
I find it interesting to visit historic houses turned into museums. They are history-lessons in an entertaining way. Some of the most interesting ones I went to were Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley in the USA and Casa Loma in Toronto, Canada. They both are spectacular!
Have you visited any of Groningen’s borgen? Or other historic mansions converted into museums? Which one was your favorite?
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