Amsterdammers like to get away from the irritations of the busy city centre and grab a big gulp of fresh air at the Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest), way out on the southern fringes. This large, wooded park is the country on the city’s doorstep. Bring along a picnic if the weather is fine.

Although it now seems entirely natural, the Amsterdamse Bos, like much of Holland, is artificial. The decision to turn a wide stretch of open polderland on the city’s southern edge into a park to meet the growing demand for leisure space was made by the city council in 1928.

When work on the Amsterdamse Bos began, it provided welcome jobs to many men who had become unemployed as the Depression years began. It was, literally, a man-made landscape – the work was done not by machine but by men and horses. The fruit of their labours was an 800-hectare park that draws people in their thousands all year round.

With around 48 km of bicycle paths and close to 160 km of footpaths, there is room for everybody. The trees and plants are now firmly bedded in, and the park has become and important home for birds, insects and small animals.

There is plenty to do and see. The Bosbaan rowing course, which exceeds the international competition length of 2 000 metres, also provides a venue for canoe, speedboat and swimming races. At the eastern end of this long, straight stretch of water is a cluster of rowing stations and pavilion, and a café, the Café Bosbaan, with a terrace overlooking the course. On most days there will be competition-rowing enthusiasts setting up and plying their craft, and a long line of anglers on the shore.

Various performances take place on summer evenings at a 1 500-seat open-air theatre, and there’s a children’s farm, stables, playgrounds, a campsite, a pancake house, a wildlife preserve, a large pond called the Grote Vijver on which you can hire boats, and even an artificial hill to provide a focus to the landscape.

A small ferry takes visitors on trips across the Nieuwe Meer, a surprisingly tranquil lake considering that it lies on the edge of the busy A10 ring road and close to Schiphol Airport. The view of the water will probably be enlivened by pleasure boats and fishermen.

At the new Bezoekercentrum you can trace the story of the park’s creation and learn about its wildlife. Exhibits reel off the statistics with pride: hundreds of species of birds, trees, herbs, fungi and beetles (more than 700 of the latter). A rustic restaurant, Boerderij Meerzicht, is a good place for pancakes.

In the summer, on Sundays and public holidays, a novel way of getting to Amsterdamse Bos is by antique tram from the old Haarlemmermeerstation, just north of the 1928 Olympisch Stadion (Olympic Stadium) at Stadionplein. The service is provided by the Electrische Museum Tramlijn (Electric Tramline Museum), which has collected and renovated old trams from around Europe.

Otherwise, take the No. 16 tram fromCentral Station to the Stadionplein terminus, then hop on any outbound bus. Or catch direct buses (170, 171, 172) from Central Station.