Doorwerth
Just two kilometers away from Doorwerth castle lays the village which bears the same name. Situated on a push moraine. South of the rise runs the Rhine river, and north of it the stream Heelsumsebeek, draining water from the higher forested plain Veluwe to the north. Also, the Seelbeek which drains the water from the Duno forest to the Rhine runs trough the woods where Doorwerth lays in.
There have always been people living around this area since the last ice age, with the higher laying land protecting them from the river, fertile land all around and plenty forests. Doorwerth became of a more permanent character after the building of the first edition of the Doorwerth castle and eventually gained the same name as the castle. First the most settlers of the town where the people working in or for the castle, but later that grew and also other services started to arrive. Eventually Doorwerth grew into a logging village. Harvesting wood from the dense woodlands around the village, which where part of the Heerlijkheid Doorwerth.
~1000 AD start modern settlement
100km to Amsterdam to the west
Woods
The forest on the northern shores of the Rhine surrounding the village Doortwerth proved to be a good source for timber as long as they managed the logging properly. The trees grew tall and straight in that area. Excellent for building. And it wasn't long until foresters settled in the village and the Lords of Dorenweerd saw a stable income from the wood.
Even with the river on the doorstep, all wood was transported by road to the mills, and from there the timber was moved by road to cities like Arnhem locally where it was used, or indeed loaded on ships to go down the Rhine to other parts of the Netherlands.
Rose was sitting in the back of the car, staring out of the window, they passed close to the town centre, and the shopping crowed was out as it was a Saturday, even though it was a miserable day, a little foggy and cold. Suddenly, she saw a familiar silhouette among the crowds. “Stop!” she shouted, and the driver, even tough under the instructions to transport her immediately back, slammed the brakes because of her tone. Rose was out of the car instantly, the car behind them was claxoning and making some foul gestures but she didn’t care, as she sprinted back in to the shopping street. “ALEKSEY!!” She shouted, loud enough that the people around her looked at her like she was a crazy person. She called out again. He was wearing just a t-shirt, ripped jeans, and a small backpack. He looked like shit. But he smiled when he saw her. “Captain!”
Coat-of-Arms
The coat-of-arms of the village Doorwerth and is a copy of the coat-of-arms of the Heerlijkheid Doorwerth. The municipality of Doorwerth never had an official coat-of-arms but de jure used the same one. The current municipality of Renkum where the village Doorwerth is part of has this coat-of-arms in the third quarter.
Heraldic description of the coat-of-arms: A field of azure with a horizontal bar in or above accompanied by three laying blocks arranged 1,1,1. Below also three blocks, arranged 2,1 all in or.
If there is any meaning behind this coat-of-arms and what that may be is unknown.
Tourism
Doorwerth used to be well visited by Dutch tourists from the cities in the west who liked to wander the woods. Doorwerth had the first wave generating swimming pool of the Netherlands. With the rise of international travel, tourism has declined and peace and quite has returned to the village and surrounding woods, luring wildlife back into the forest.
Doorwerth castle
Doorwerth castle lays outside the push moraine, in the flood plains of the Rhine river. Founded around 1000 AD by the Lords van Dorenweerd of the Heerlijkheid Doorwerth, at first they used it as a stronghold from which they raided the countryside but after interference by the Duke of Gelre Doornwerth castle became a centre of power in the region. After several years of decline it is now owned by a club Vereniging De Doorwerth who maintain the castle.
Is there still a lot of tourists infrastructure in the village or has most of it disappear now that the tourists have mostly left? International tourism is rather recent, right? It's probably still around and deteriorating... Thinking about your bad boy character again, he must be quite isolated in that castle :p Where does he even go partying? XD
I am unsure what happened to the infrastructure, didn't look into that, that far.
Karel would be going out here. There is more to it than the picture shows. :D Also big city is just half an hour by bike away, so excellent to go partying.