glamping - The Family Holiday Guide

/ TAG / GLAMPING

A holiday park in Holland next to the ‘Dutch desert’ – we review Duinhoeve and give our top tips for a family holiday there with children

by Victoria Pollitt | Sep 4, 2019 | Accommodation, Holland/The Netherlands

We go glamping in style with our children at Holidaypark Duinhoeve in the Netherlands

What is it?

Holidaypark Duinhoeve (Recreatiepark Duinhoeve) is a relaxing and peaceful holiday park with chalets, lodges, holiday homes, glamping lodges, tents and camping options.

It has playgrounds/play areas, swimming pools and a café. There is children’s entertainment at peak times.

Watch our video of Duinhoeve here and read our full review and tips below.

Where is it?

It is in the middle of Holland, an hour south of Amsterdam, in north Brabant near Udenhout, a short walk from Loonse en Drunese Dunes and a 10-minute drive to Efteling Theme Park Resort.

Is it family-friendly?

Yes, this is a good holiday park for families with younger children especially.

Our accommodation.

We stayed in a seven-person glamping lodge. It was fabulous – crafted with beautiful wooden frames and interior, all covered with canvas.

Our glamping lodge at Duinhoeve

A big 48 square metres, it has an open-plan kitchen-diner and lounge area with an L-shaped sofa and tv. The kitchen has a hob, microwave combi oven, fridge, freezer, kettle and coffee maker, along with plates, bowls, cutlery and utensils.

The first bedroom has a double bed, the second has bunk beds and a single bed. Then there is a bedstead – a separate space up a ladder, filled with a double mattress.

There is one bathroom with a big double shower (no bath).

The children were really happy with the lodge – there is even an extra little space which little ones can use as a small den or play room, with a little doorway – or it would make a fabulous storage area.

And there is a large undercover decking/veranda area outside at the front with a big picnic bench and separate garden furniture sofas.

We loved staying in this glamping lodge, it felt almost new and very clean.

Food and drink

We bought supplies from a local supermarket, plus a few bits from home and mainly ate at the accommodation or made picnics.

But there is a restaurant on site with outdoor and indoor seating area.

Restaurant cafe at Duinhoeve holiday park in Holland/The Netherlands

On-site restaurant

Plus there is a restaurant called Landgoed Bosch en Duin, with a play area, a five-minute walk away where we stopped off one day for Dutch specialities poffertjes (small round Dutch pancakes) and apple pie.

Nearby

*It is a five-minute walk from the site through woodland to stunning sand dunes – our children felt like we were in a desert.

Dunes of Loon

In fact, the Dunes of Loon in Drunen National Park, which formed 10,000 years ago, is sometimes called the Dutch Desert or Brabant Sahara. It is the largest sand drift area in western Europe.

*It is a 10-minute drive to Efteling – Holland’s biggest theme park, read our review of it here and watch our video below.

*The medieval city of Den Bosch is 25 minutes away.

Den Bosch

It has a cathedral, museums, lots of shops and cafes, we sampled the city’s speciality – Bossche Bollen – a Danish pastry reminiscent of a huge round chocolate éclair or profiterole but much nicer.

Bosche Bollen, yum

*Beekse Bergen Safari Park is half an hour away by car.

Our highlights

*This holiday park has three play areas including a nice playground near to our glamping lodge and one next to the swimming pools, with a giant bouncing pillow trampoline.

*The swimming pools

The main pool is solar heated and 1.4m deep throughout. It is on the small side but we all enjoyed it – it was a great temperature, not too cold and we were all glad of it as temperatures reached 33 degrees during our stay.

The small children’s pool is shallow and has a pirate ship with two slides – perfect for toddlers and little ones.

*The surrounding area

Being next to the Dunes of Doon desert was a great bonus plus there are some good walks and cycle routes.

*Accommodation

The fabulous glamping lodge we stayed in felt roomy and fresh and the children loved it.

More information

*Dogs are allowed if you are camping, they are not allowed in any of the rental accommodation options apart from rental tents upon request.

Address: Oude Bosschebaan 4,5071 RR Udenhout

For more information or to book click here.

Read the full review of our trip here: Deserts, fairytales and glamping – a family trip to Efteling and the Brabant region of Holland.

We travelled to Holland by mini-cruise from England, read our review and top tips here: We review a mini-cruise from Newcastle to Amsterdam with DFDS ferry operator

The first part of our rip was in Amsterdam, read about it here: Is Amsterdam child-friendly? We take a family trip to the beautiful capital of the Netherlands to find out

*Disclaimer – we were guests of Duinhoeve Holidaypark for the purposes of this review. All views are our own.

Top five tips for families going glamping this year

by Victoria Pollitt | Aug 4, 2019 | News

A glamping website reveals its top five tips to make your family’s holiday a success – plus the most popular option to stay in

If your children are desperate to go camping but you’re not keen – why not try glamorous camping or ‘glamping’.

It’s a way to enjoy the great outdoors but in style – but without all the hard work and with a comfortable bed and bathroom facilites!

And Glampsites.com says an increasing number of their clients are picking yurts ahead of glamping pods (main picture) for their UK breaks this year.

Yurts are getting more popular

Tara Laird, from Glampsites.com, said: “When Glampsites.com began taking online bookings in September 2017, the glamping pod was a stand-alone favourite, dominating the vast majority of all bookings.

“However, although as popular as ever, glamping pods now face some healthy competition with holiday makers demanding not just a stay but an experience.

“Yurts are a burgeoning structure within the glamping industry, and they just keep getting better. Competition continues to drive the market forward, and with every yurt that adds an outdoor pizza oven, another adds a wood fired hot tub.”

The company has now compiled a list of advice for families planning a glamping holiday.

1. Compile a check list

No two yurts or glamping pods are the same, so conduct thorough research and planning to make sure exactly what is in your yurt, outside your yurt, and more importantly, what is not, so you can bring that equipment with you.

2. Prepare for a rainy day

Just in case the weather is bad, bring some board games. If you can’t quite bring yourself to leave iPads or tablets at home, maybe keep them in the car until you really need them for wet weather entertainment.

3. Get back to nature

The beauty of a yurt holiday is getting back to nature, so don’t try to cram in too many activities. Just sit back and appreciate your surroundings.

4. Scope out the area

Yurts are often in rural areas and undisturbed surroundings. But after a day or two you may need to get out and about so do a little research and check out things to do nearby for children.

5. Be willing to disconnect

Most yurts don’t have WiFi, so the advice is to embrace the opportunity to disconnect from the outside world and recharge.

For yurt holidays go to Glampsites.com

An idyllic Lake District location for families. We review the Quiet Site near Ullswater

by Victoria Pollitt | May 17, 2018 | Accommodation, Ullswater

A family-friendly campsite in the Lakes with all types of accommodation from tents to cottages and even hobbit holes

The location

The Quiet Site is about a mile or so above Ullswater on a small road.

This large campsite has views across the fields, with some glimpses of the lake from certain points.

It is laid out around converted farm houses with plenty of land for playing on.

Accommodation choice

You can choose almost any sort of accommodation here. From pitching your own tent right through to large holiday cottages.

There’s also glamping options with hobbit holes (wooden buildings dug into the side of a fell), pods and bell tents. There are static holiday homes to buy as well.

A hobbit hole

We stayed in one of the two 16th century cottages, which was huge.

It had a large lounge, three good sized bedrooms and a well-equipped kitchen. There was also a decent sized garden shared with the adjoining cottage.

children on a trampoline outside a cottage

This cottage is one of the options

The facilities

There is a pub on site, the Quiet Bar, which is deliberately rustic having changed little since 1963.

It is cosy and homely with a log fire and pool table.

Elsewhere the site has cooking facilities, a small shop for food and drinks and there’s often a wagon selling sausage and mash in the evening.

The nearest restaurants are about a mile away.

Child-friendly

Little ones are well catered for, our holiday cottage had a brilliant trampoline, which we all tried out!

There was also a playhouse in the garden and plenty of DVDs and games in the house.

The main site has a large playground with swings, climbing equipment, a play fort and space to run around.

Adjoining The Quiet Bar is a soft play area, which is a useful rainy day distraction.

The walks

There are plenty of options from an eight-mile trek to Aira Force and back, through to a couple of miles around Little Mell Fell, which sits right above the site.

There are maps and guides on the website and the owners can help you when you arrive to point you in the right direction.

We went far enough with our two children to take in the wonderful scenery and feel like we were in the great outdoors.

There are walks from the site with views of Ullswater

In conclusion

A family-friendly, award-winning option with accommodation to suit all tastes and budgets.

For a review of the full holiday, see here.

Visit the Quiet Site website for more information and rates.

(We stayed as guests of the site for the purpose of this review. All views are our own).