Road tripping and our night in a castle tower

Before we left The Netherlands to return to Australia at the beginning of May, we went on a short but delightful little road trip. 

Our first stop was Dronten in the province of  Flevoland, the newest of the 12 provinces in the Netherlands, established in 1986 on land reclaimed mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. 

The reason for our return there was to visit our good sailing friends Geritt and AnneMieke from S/V Fruits de Mer, who we first met in 2015 on the Indonesian Rally. 

As always, Gerrit and AnneMieke were excellent hosts and we had a fantastic couple of days together. 

This time they took us to the historic town of Enkhuisen – an important fishing and trading port from the Middle Ages onwards and one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in the country during the Dutch Golden Age. 

It still has a thriving port but most of the vessels on the water are sailing yachts used for recreation rather than trading ships full of spices and other exotic cargoes. 

We strolled through the ancient laneways soaking up the atmosphere and admiring the well preserved historic centre. 

As usual in places like these, we ended up at the water’s edge to look at the boats – we particularly liked seeing the beautifully renovated sailing barges that drifted past us in a timeless and stately manner. 

Later on Gerrit and AnneMieke took us to a wonderful cafe to sample iconic Dutch seafood delicacies such as Hollandse Nieuwe (soused, salt-cured raw herring eaten whole with onions), kibbeling (battered, deep-fried white fish bites served with garlic sauce), and gerookte paling (delicately smoked eel).   I had never fancied eating eel before but I was really surprised how delicious it is!  What a fabulous feast!

The following day we drove to Azewijn a village close to the Dutch-German border and near to the town of ‘s-Heerenberg which is famous for being the location of one of the most important castles of the Netherlands – Huis Bergh. 

The campsite was great – very peaceful, with a lovely view over the fields and a pleasant walk away from the local pub!

We just spent one night there as the following day we had organised to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary at the legendary Castle Huis Bergh!

Yes we were staying at the famous castle! Well the not actually the castle (it was closed for renovations!) but we stayed in the very romantic round tower right next to the castle!

The tower had been beautifully converted with a big (round) bedroom, bathroom and separate toilet on the ground floor and a gorgeous living /dining room up the winding stairs. 

The views from each of the windows (from memory there were six or maybe eight of them!) were gorgeous and there was a comfy sofa to lounge on, a huge choice of teas and coffees and great central heating as well as lots of other home comforts!

After a light late lunch in the castle cafe we had a relaxing afternoon before being picked up for a short car ride to a nearby restaurant for a delicious candle lit degustation dinner. 

Our driver dropped us off at the castle gates after dinner and then we had to let ourselves into the courtyard with a big key. The massive and ancient door creaked open and our footsteps echoed in the darkness as we made our way across the ghostly flagstones. What a unique experience!

The next morning we received a massive picnic basket plus an insulated bag crammed full of breakfast goodies – eggs, platters loaded with different meats and cheeses, warm breads and buttery pastries, fresh fruits and juices, and little cakes. Enough for a family of six!

Needless to say we really enjoyed our luxurious stay in the castle tower!

After a wonderful walk in the stunning grounds of the castle and a wander around the town, we jumped back into our camper van and drove for about an hour and a half to the village of Havelte to the capacious house that had been hired by our son-in-law Pieter’s large family for their annual holiday week together. 

It was an amazing house with a massive living area, a games room that filled the basement, an industrial sized kitchen with cooking facilities and giant sized dish washers, an amazingly long dining that could accommodate the grandparents and each of their six adult children’s families (and us!) in comfort, countless bedrooms and a fabulous garden with play equipment for the children. 

While we were there we went to see a famous local landmark – the two hunebedden (dolmen) in Havelterberg. 

The larger of the two single-chamber megalithic tombs is the second biggest in the Netherlands and consists of 9 capstones and 21 side stones. It used to have a beautiful ring of 40 stones around it and there were still 24 left in 1918 when the  Dutch archaeologist Albert Egges van Giffen researched the dolmen. Nowadays, there are sadly only 10 left.

We had a lovely walk with some of Pieter’s family in the large nature park where the hunebedden are situated. 

We had a couple of days back at Hannah and Pieter’s to get ready to leave for Australia and prepare the van for storage. 

As always it was heart wrenching to leave our little family in The Netherlands, especially our little granddaughter who is growing up so fast and changing every day. On the other hand, we couldn’t wait to see our darling little twin granddaughters in Brisbane, Australia who we hadn’t seen for a couple of months. 

Despite the sadness it felt good to be back in our small house in the woods on Ben and Sarah’s (our son and daughter-in-law) property and just wonderful to see our twin granddaughters who had come on in leaps and bounds while we had been away!

The best news was that the littlest twin Matilda had finally been weaned off the feeding tube and was now not only taking bottles but also now eating solids as enthusiastically as her sister Eva! Such magnificent progress made!