Leiden’s finest
In the 15th and 17th centuries, Leiden flourished enormously due to the textile and Laken trade.
The Hoogeveen family also benefited from this. They owned large plots of land, where peat was cut and where they kept their sheep.
Continue down the street and you will arrive at the Rapenburg; voted the most beautiful canal in the world by a 17th century group of geographers; the Lonely Planet of their time.
In 1200 this canal was dug out to defend the city.