A hollow in this oak's trunk has been furnished like a dollhouse for as long as anyone in the neighbourhood can remember, complete with tiny notes left for gnomes nobody has ever claimed to see. At only about 94 years old, the Kabouterboom, the gnome tree, is by far the youngest entry on this list, included for a different reason than the others: generations of children from the surrounding Bosjes van Zanen neighbourhood have treated this specific oak as a shared piece of make-believe, tucking dolls, notes and small gifts into its hollow and low branches, a tradition adults have kept alive rather than outgrown. Nobody organizes it and no sign explains it; parents simply pass the game to their children the way they might pass down any local custom, and the tree accumulates a rotating cast of tiny residents as a result. It sits at the edge of the Clingendael estate, an easy detour from the veteran linden a short walk away, proof that a tree earns a place on a list like this one for reasons that have nothing to do with circumference or century, and everything to do with what a neighbourhood decided to make of it.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Bosjes van Zanen, edge of the Clingendael estate
You can recognise it by the hollow in its trunk, furnished like a dollhouse with dolls and small notes people leave. It stands at the edge of the Clingendael estate, a short walk from the veteran linden.
Tram or bus to Haagse Hout, then a short walk, roughly 20 minutes from central Den Haag
In fruit
acorns drop, and a good mast year buries the ground in them
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.