Characteristic of the immediate surroundings of Ouddorp, the Kop van Goeree, is a beautiful dune and polder landscape that naturally frames the village. Images of nature mean food for the inner person and the environment offers the opportunity to satisfy that need with every step of the way. The Dutch are known as an international trading people, but because of the many years of struggle against the water, they also have the capacity to make a virtue of necessity.
Not only the buildings, but also nature is treated with care. For example, the dikes, which are largely passable, are laid down with natural buildings, there are narrow and wide canals, hundreds of hectares of nature reserve with special plants where both land and aquatic animals find their source of life.
In the dune area around Ouddorp on the "Kop van Goeree" there is a 25 kilometer long and in some parts very wide beach. The nature area "Kwade Hoek", where nature lovers can indulge. You can cycle, walk, watch animals and dream away.
Flower seeds are grown on the many fields in the area, a feast for the eyes in the flowering season in a palette of countless colors. But even in winter, the landscape that extends behind the coast like a patchwork quilt, offers a fantastic sight. Thousands of migratory birds then take possession of the field and find everything they need to spend the winter here. The climate here is softer than you would think at first glance (see also Source of North Sea life).
The schurveling is a unique landscape form that can only be found in Ouddorp and the surrounding area. The approximately 3 meter high naturally planted sand embankments on the edge of the fields were once created out of emergency. A fertile layer lay beneath the sandy soil where people could grow their products. That is why the top layer was excavated and accumulated on the edge of the fields. Such a sand embankment was formerly called a "hamete" and is probably the origin of the name Hameeteman, which is still common in the area.
