For hundred years, up to 1639 peat was dug out in the Bovenkerkerpolder. As a result a lake emerged reaching to the Bovenkerkerweg in the West, the Amsteldijk in the East, the Dutch dike in the South of Uithoorn and the Ouderkerkerlaan in the North. Moreover the Ouderkerkerlaan formed the border between the Bovenkerkerpolder and the Middelpolder: both are large water pools.

All that water eventually was such a threat to Amstelveen and Amsterdam that the polder was drained. A large part of the polder got inhabited afterwards and the rest was handed over to farmers and their cattle.

The inhabited and uninhabited part hold a beautiful piece of nature and deserve to have a look at!

Bovenkerkerpolder North contains a lot of beautiful ponds and urban greenness. Along the East side of the district to the meadow area lies a broad counterfoil, rich of flowers and famous herbs which grow there during the spring and summer time.

Moreover the park Langerhuizen, situated between the hospital and horticulture area Mönch, still contains the old fruit trees of the orchard of the farm Verhoef. Both areas are an Eldorado for all kinds of birds and form a part of the Ecologische Verbindingsroute (ecological connection route) to the Groene Hart (Green heart) of the Netherlands.

In Bovenkerkerpolder South, situated between the Nesserlaan and the Dutch dike, you still can find grazing cattle along the old parcels dating from the year 1760. When cycling along the Boven land and following the unpaved Middenweg in the direction of the Amstel, it is possible to see birds hunting their prey.