Holland

This was our first holiday where we drove abroad. This was something we had never considered due to travel time and an apprehension of driving abroad. I had seen on social media about a holiday camp called Duinrell in holland being recommended multiple times and thought what’s all the fuss about?! So thats when the holiday planning began…

After looking at the park facilities online and the fact people were booking it through the sun holidays for £9.50pp I thought lets see what price this will come in at. I settled on canvas holidays as our accomodation provider and booked a 2 bed cosy mobile home with decking area.

The accomodation was on the compact side but we literally only slept there so it wasn’t a problem. The toilet was seperate from the shower room and the covered decking area had a BBQ on it. We were placed in the beukenveld area of the park which was lovely, it was surrounded by trees and a stream running through with multiple biking/walking trails and 5 minutes to the on-site waterpark and theme park. The mobile home was very clean upon arrival and we would use canvas holidays again.

Transport: As we are based in Cumbria, travelling to the continent can be a long drive. There are ferry crossings to Holland at Newcastle (DFDS), Hull (P&O Ferries) & Harwich in Essex (Stenaline). We went via Harwich as it was the cheapest and quickest crossing over to Holland. We used our clubcard points to get a voucher which brought the cost down. The ferry was £268 return where as Hull was £550 and Newcastle £970 respectively. We paid £150 by the time our clubcard points were deducted. Harwich was a 7 hour drive with stops so it was a long day but we got there and checked into a premier inn located next to the ferry port. The morning of the holiday arrived (yayyyyyy!) and we pulled up at the ferry terminal.. There was staff who direct you and are very helpful. We got in line and waited for check in to open, normal checks are dealt with swiftly, passport control and a quick vehicle check then we are queuing to board. I thought Id take a quick toilet stop whilst we queued to discover upon my return that ryan had driven off and nearly left me behind! Kids were in hysterics as were the numerous cars watching me running like forest gump to catch up! Anyway that aside - we are aboard! We headed straight for the breakfast - £40 and to be honest it wasnt that good but its to be expected. The next 8 hours were filled with devices and trips to duty free, bar areas and on deck. Surprisingly it wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be and soon we were in Hoek Van Holland. Now this is where my anxiety kicks in as Im driving! We queue to go through passport control and the dutch were not in too much of a rush. We finally get through and this is where the fun starts…

Within 10 minutes the european sat nav has decided to not work, I have been aggressively beeped by a car who decided to jump a crossing and its hot… We get the GPS working and make our way to Duinrell in Waasenaar… The scenery is beautiful, its a summers day in August and the temparature is 26 degrees. We arrive at Duinrell and after we work out the parking situation we get checked into our accomodation.

*Remember to look up driving requirements abroad

Our holiday:

Duinrell is amazing! It has a theme park on-site for you to use included in your stay. It also has tiki-bad which is an on-site waterpark - this is payable at 10e pp for a 2 hour slot. Our girls absolutely loved the theme and water park and would have been quite happy just spending the whole week on there. A 10 minute drive and you are at the coast! The beaches are very clean and there are refreshments available. We visited Leiden which was a 30 minute drive away, we went in to a windmill called De Valk Molenmuseum (highly recommended), we also went on a river cruise which was amazing, it had numemous languages via the audio too. We also visited a butterfly conservation garden called vlinders aat de vilet - fabulous day out. A week wasnt long enough to see and do everything we wanted such as an Ajax stadium tour, Anne frank house, Amsterdam etc. We will absolutely go back one day preferably to see all the tulips in display and I highly recommend it to anybody wanting something other than your typical beach holiday whilst still having swimming, theme parks and restaurants all on-site.

Melissa