Holiday Home Sandepark 127

The park is peaceful, and you can park right outside the house. We stayed in house 165 for five days. It’s very small, but a nice fit for two people for a few days. The place is quite old and shows its age in spots, though it had all the necessary technical equipment and even a grill. Cleanliness was okay. The shower curtain and bathroom fittings are worn and could do with replacing. A skylight means you can’t make the house fully dark, so it’s not great if you need a dark room to sleep or don’t want daylight waking you at 6:30 a.m.

What made the stay enjoyable was the kitchen. The gas stove is the best I’ve come across in a holiday home, and the wall drawers have lots of spices. There are plenty of useful cooking tools, though the pots and pans could be better supplied: there’s no large pot with a lid, and the many frying pans don’t have lids either. We missed deep soup plates, since not everyone likes the soup or cereal bowls provided. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to complain about, though the fridge felt small after shopping at Albert Heijn. I was planning to make a salmon and vegetable casserole in the oven, and there’s a baking tray and rack. The house and especially the garden looked neglected, as if nobody had been there for a long time. Calling the place “vintage” might be a way to advertise it, but old, dilapidated things lying around don’t justify €1000 for Saturday at 2:00 PM through the following Saturday at 10:00 AM. Inside, there are some modern windows and outside doors, but the overall feel is very rustic and sometimes looks cobbled together, like the indoor toilet. The ground floor has a satellite flat-screen TV and a sofa that barely seats three. There’s a dining nook with a corner bench and a table made from an old wooden cable drum. No comfortable armchair or proper dining chairs. Aside from the corner bench, nearly all the furniture feels DIY, with poplar plywood everywhere, even scraps under the carport by the driveway. The downstairs bedroom seems like a newer addition and could be a nice idea, but there’s no wardrobe, chest of drawers, or even somewhere to put a suitcase. The homemade bed is okay and the mattresses are very good. We slept well thanks to how quiet the area is. There are outlets, but no bedside table or shelf for a book, tablet, or charger. The shower room beside the bedroom is nicely done, but the shower drain doesn’t slope enough, so water tends to run toward the toilet. It seems there are plans for more work on the ground floor, which might make the property feel more coherent. A small room has bunk beds and works for children. The gable room, reached by a very steep wooden staircase, has a double bed that also seems better suited to children or teenagers. Upstairs, the house has a rustic, pieced-together feel. After several days here, since Saturday at 2 PM and now Tuesday, I’m getting used to the little annoyances, like the door handles and drawers under the beds. Sincerely, DB

Our house, No. 70, was very comfortable, with beds for five, a nice living room, and a handy kitchenette with a dishwasher, fridge, gas stove, oven, and everything else we needed. There was a terrace with a parasol and a lovely garden, making it a great starting point for bike rides or trips to Alkmaar, Amsterdam, and elsewhere. The price felt quite reasonable, and we’ll definitely come back. The park is a little older, with mature greenery, and the beach is about 10 minutes away.

We walked to the beach in about 15 minutes, which was fine, and the park itself was clean and quiet. The house was comfortably furnished and had a fully equipped kitchen, but it was really small for a place advertised for six. One bedroom under the roof could only be reached by an extremely steep ladder. I’m fairly athletic and in my early thirties, and even I found it a challenge, so I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for older people. Our house was advertised as dog-free, but dogs were allowed in the neighboring houses. They used our garden as a toilet, so with children we had to watch out for those little “landmines” 🤣 The bathroom was tiny, really tiny. The shower was right next to the toilet, and there wasn’t room for a curtain, so the toilet got wet when you showered. It’s probably a matter of taste, but it wasn’t mine 😑