Fruit Farm de Zandweg

It is not a farmyard you drive into, but inside the shop on the Zandweg you are surprised by the range. "Varied and above all very tasty," says Dieneke Vermaire, who runs the Zandweg together with her brother. She looks back with nostalgia on her youth among the orchards of Kapelle — her father was the last auctioneer at the auction there. For her, fruit means more than a shop.

In addition to common apples and pears, the Zandweg regularly stocks old varieties with picturesque names: Cox's Orange Pippin (yellow-green with an orange-red blush), James Grieve, Zoete Ermgaard and Sugar Apples. Pear varieties such as Triomphe de Vienne, Beurré Hardy and Doyenné du Comice each have their own story and flavour. Everything comes from their own orchard, as do the plums and the honey from their own beehives.

"The experience lies in the diversity and the chat with the customer," says Dieneke. Yet she worries: standard-tree orchards are disappearing and facilities are moving to the Randstad. What will become of fruit growing in Zuid-Beveland? Reason enough to cycle past some time.