Voeskenshof

Voeskenhof is an estate in Kevelaer - Kervendonk , which was used as a restaurant until 2018. A reopening is expected to be planned.

Voeskenshof was mentioned for the first time in 1463, but in the old scriptures it was also referred to as "Vossenhof" or "Füskeshof" ( dialect fox ). In the course of the Dutch War , which King Louis XIV waged against Holland from 1672 to 1679, numerous farms in the Schravelen office fell victim to the flames, including Voeskenshof. The house, barn and stables had to be completely rebuilt. After the War of the Palatinate Succession 1688–1697, Louis XIV led the War of Spanish Succession 1701–1714 and in November 1702 Voeskenshof felt the turmoil of the war again. There was looting by the French.

Long before and until shortly after 1800 the estate was owned by the Gaesdonck monastery , which leased the farm and converted much of the surrounding quarry land into magnificent oak forests.

The French Revolution in 1789 once again brought the French to the Lower Rhine. Churches and monasteries lost their rental income. On June 9, 1802, the first French consul Bonaparte, later called Napoléon, declared all monasteries on the Lower Rhine to be abolished and their goods state property ( secularization ).

The same fate struck the Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck near Goch . Its goods - including Voeskenshof - were confiscated and put up for public sale in August 1805. The count's family at Schloss Wissen (near Weeze) acquired the estate. It remained in their possession until in 1934 the Wehren family, who, as documented, had been tenants of the farm for well over 100 years, became the owners.

At the end of the Second World War, Voeskenshof found itself again in a highly threatening situation when the military used it as a petrol depot. At the same time, the surrounding towns of Weeze , Uedem , Kervenheim and Winnekendonk were taken under heavy fire and suffered immense destruction. In addition, the planes who had the Ruhr area as their actual destination often dropped their bombs here on their home flight. Some bomb craters can still be seen today, if you look carefully at the flora, around 300 m away from Landhaus Voeskenshof.

After the war, the property was characterized by a mixed agriculture of arable farming and cattle breeding for decades .

From 1948 it became an apprenticeship company, on which many female and male trainees were led to the domestic and agricultural assistant exams for a good 20 years.

In 1970, a structural conversion of the operational land began in the Kevelaer holiday park. Subsequently, the farm buildings were converted into a hotel-restaurant.

Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 35 "  N , 6 ° 15 ′ 49"  E