Lowdown on going Dutch

Home of windmills, bicycles and cheese, Holland is one of the easiest European countries to visit. An hour after leaving home, we were on board The Pride of Rotterdam – our chosen mode of transport, ready for our 12-hour journey across the North Sea.

The facilities on P&O ferries are excellent – children’s play area, casino, restaurants, cinema and the Sky lounge for sipping cocktails while taking in the views. It was a pity the crossing wasn’t as smooth as the check-in but I’ll spare you the details of the consequences of the stormy weather...

Our four-berth cabin was compact and comfortable and again, the quick and efficient disembarking meant the next stage of our journey started stress-free as we took to the Dutch roads. It took less than an hour to find our way to the Duinrell Holiday Park, which is set in a beautiful forest on the outskirts of the market town, Wassenaar.

We were staying in one of the Keycamp mobile homes which was situated on a spacious grassy area, giving our boys plenty of freedom to play outside safely. The mobile home was well kitted out with shower, gas hob, kettle, barbecue and decking area. More exciting was the prospect of a theme park within the grounds of the park, as one of the park residents you get to enjoy all the rides for free.

Although the theme park is next door to the mobile home site, very little noise can be heard as the each area was surrounded by a sound barrier of hedgerows and trees.

Boasting the theme park and one of Europe’s largest water parks, it is easy to see why families would spend most of their time on the site. Even without the outdoor pools we enjoyed the slides and waves and the lazy river ride. However, as we were there at the end of the season, the reduced number of activities and poorer weather meant our children were happy to leave the park to explore further afield.

Wassenaar is a pretty town, boasting a good selection of shops, supermarkets and restaurants – always a bonus when self-catering. Purely for research purposes we tried out the Pannekoekenhut, perfectly situated next to the park, serving an amazing choice of Dutch-style sweet and savoury pancakes.

Holland’s flat landscape makes it ideal for walking and cycling. There is plenty to explore locally with forest walks, sand dunes and a vast beach at Wassenaar. Bikes, suitable for all ages and sizes, are available to hire from Duinrell, and our boys loved riding their go-karts round the site – reasonably priced at 12 euros for 24 hours.

A day trip to the cosmopolitan capital, Amsterdam, was a must, with its canals and quirky chilled-out atmosphere.

This modern metropolis has the highest museum density in the world, understandably so with its links to Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

Even with more than 60 museums to choose from there are always queues for Anne Frank’s house. A self-led tour takes you through the actual house where this Jewish factory-owning family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation.

Despite the number of visitors there was a feeling of quiet humbleness as we meandered through the corridors and up to the tiny, dark rooms where Anne spent two years writing her remarkable diary – a moving experience we will never forget.

The historic city of Leiden will captivate you with its charm and elegance. After Amsterdam, Leiden is the city with the most canals – more than 28 kilometres of waterways. We visited the wonderful market which is situated on the banks of the central canal. The stalls give you a real insight of the food and drink available.

International city of Peace and Justice, The Hague, or Den Haag, is worth a visit for shopping or discovering its fine historical buildings. It’s the home of the Dutch parliament, the impressive looking Peace Palace and de Noordeinde Palace is the working palace of His Majesty King Willem-Alexander.

The best view of the city was from the 42nd floor of the The Hague Tower, where we viewed the cityscape while enjoying a coffee.

Our favourite town, was Delft – home of the famous blue and white pottery. Traditional and unspoilt with classic architecture, pretty market square and lovely selection of independent shops and cafés, you can easily spent a few hours relaxing here.

With an abundance of cheese shops around we didn’t need to go to Edam or Gouda to sample the local delicacies, but it was nice to see the cheese rounds strung across the cobbled streets. On market days in summer you can watch the cheeses being weighed.

Exhausted from making the most of few crammed days we were pleased to board The Pride of Hull for our return journey, where we enjoyed a film in the cinema before settling in our cabin for the night.

Luckily the North Sea was a little less rough this time and by 10am we were back home unpacking our Dutch Gouda and souvenir clogs. Luckily our memories will last longer than the cheese did.

Getting there

Self catering specialists in Europe – www.keycamp.co.uk 0844 273 6163.

Overnight sailings from Hull to Rotterdam every day – www.poferries.com.

Anne Frank House, Amsterdam – www.annefrank.org +31 (0)20 5567100.