Natuurgebied Landgoed De Sijp | Elsendorp

De Sijp is an estate in the Peel. It is a varied area of nature such as forest and heathland and farmland, through which avenues run with beech and American oak. It lies on the southern half of a sandy crescent dune that dates back to the last Ice Age, the Weichselian, some 10,000 years ago. For thousands of years the area remained remote and undeveloped in the marshes of the Peel. In 1895, it was purchased by the banker Abraham Hendrik Ledeboer. Ledeboer also owned the nearby Stippelberg estate, which was largely exploited for forestry. De Sijp was also converted primarily to pine forest at first. The work was carried out by the Nederlandse Heidemaatschappij and directed by a foreman who lived on the estate itself in the foreman's house, which is also where the ox team that plowed the land was stabled. In the beginning of the great reclamations, from 1850 to 1900, the general opinion was that the Peel which consisted largely of sand and peat was too poor to be used for anything other than forestry. The advent of artificial fertilizer changed this. In the Sijp, the cropping plan was reversed and grass was sown. This made it the first large-scale agricultural reclamation that did not focus purely on forestry. About six farms eventually appeared on the property, mostly dairy farms.

The nature part of De Sijp is owned by the Brabants Landschap. The agricultural holdings are now separate private properties.To the north, the estate connects to Cleefswit estate and to the east to De Krim estate and the hamlet of Vossenberg.