Posts Tagged “Netherlands”
Middachten Castle or Kasteel Middachten in Dutch, is a significant and beautiful manor house, located on the Middachten estate, De Steeg, Netherlands. The building we see today dates from 1698. Since 2004 the castle has been a rijksmonument which is a register of Dutch sites of interest. Middachten Castle is part of the Top 100…
This is said to be the most famous castle in the Netherlands. That will come as a surprise to most tourists, who will likely not have realised that Holland even had any castles. Loevestein Castle will intrigue and delight and have visitors wanting to learn more about the history of this relatively undiscovered region of…
From 1 June to 29 September 2019 at The Kröller-Müller The summer exhibition The Beginning of a New World The development of modern sculpture is the perfect occasion to visit the Kröller-Müller. For the first time ever, the museum tells the story of the modern sculpture collection, seen through the eyes of Bram Hammacher, director…
I am a fan of these comprehensive little guides. I took this one on a test run to Amsterdam and it proved to be worth the money. It’s more than a book with a map at the back. Amsterdam Marco Polo Pocket Travel Guide 2018 is a travel aid …and fun, too! I am a…
Paleis Hotel is a superb 4-star boutique hotel in the historic ‘Hofkwartier’ neighbourhood of The Hague. It sounds regal and it is indeed rubbing shoulders with royalty. It’s within a very short carriage ride of the Noordeinde Palace, the current work palace of King Willem-Alexander. I hear that this hotel regularly hosts dignitaries from up…
This is perhaps the most iconic of all hotels in The Hague. Its very location allows it to take advantage of architectural and historic cachet. It sits majestically on a corner, with a regal red awning which encourages high expectations of what might lie within. Luckily all of us can enjoy at least a little…
The Mauritshuis is home to some of the most famous Dutch paintings of the Golden Age. The gallery is a perfectly formed and fitting contemporary venue for its much-loved collections. It has a beautiful and leafy location in the heart of The Hague and it houses masterpieces such as Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring…
The opening ceremony was performed by The King and Queen of The Netherlands in Leeuwarden-Friesland. Church bells rang out across the entire province of Friesland, a gesture that announced the start of a grand and vibrant cultural year. The province shares the cultural year title with Valletta2018, the other Cultural Capital of Europe. The opening…
1 January – 31 December 2018 The European Capital of Culture 2018 takes place in Leeuwarden, the capital of the Dutch province of Friesland. It is a time for new ideas originating in Friesland to spread to the rest of the world. With culture as the driving force, Leeuwarden-Friesland 2018 shows that it takes courage…
Vincent van Gogh’s Nuenen is documented in charming fashion at the Vincentre Who is this ‘Vincent’ and where is Nuenen? We are exploring the life of THE Vincent. That’s Vincent van Gogh. Yes, he of the Potato Eaters and Starry, Starry Night fame. Nuenen, a beautiful small town in the region of Brabant in The…
The ‘Loving Vincent’ Exhibition of the Animated Film The Loving Vincent Exhibition is now open at the Noord Brabant’s Museum in Den Bosch. This beautiful town is just one hour from Amsterdam by train, too. The exhibition runs until 28th January 2018 and displays 120 of the paintings from the film. The exhibition shows how…
I am an unashamed supporter of The Netherlands. It’s next door, but unknown to many British. (That might be perceived as an advantage, at least to us who have already discovered it!) It has history, beautiful architecture, surprisingly good food, art and individual design – chair design. Those national assets are not confined to Amsterdam…
This delightful museum is a triumph. Yes, it will be a draw for lovers of art but it has such broad appeal for those who appreciate the open and wooded spaces of this corner of The Netherlands. But who were Kröller and Müller? In fact they were a she and evidently a woman before her…
‘No, Mum, not a museum!’ Yes, many of us have heard that sad and somewhat panic-stricken refrain from youngsters who are dreading the prospect of another 3-hour amble around galleries hung with dark oil paintings or museums stuffed full of glass cases displaying old clothes. What the juvenile members of the group are expressing is…
It seemed unlikely. A pottery in a church in Eindhoven. But here it was and it is indeed a divine space in which to sympathetically develop well-designed products from natural clay. But not just any clay – this is Dutch clay at Atelier NL. Nadine Sterk and Lonny van Ryswyck studied at Eindhoven’s Design Academy,…
Het Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch, Holland has recently acquired from a private collection The Garden of the Vicarage at Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The work of October-November 1885 is the last known watercolour van Gogh produced in Nuenen; it occupies a special place in his oeuvre. This acquisition – the most important purchase…
We are going on a well-deserved city break, but what does the discerning and well-turned-out shopper bring back? Well, usually nothing apart from a bottle of duty-free. But the fashion-conscious will find so much in the stylish and elegant Hague to bring home. There are design souvenirs aplenty which will garner more admiring glances than…
The yellow brick Art-Deco museum is solid and striking and an icon of its time. Built between 1931 and 1935, it was designed by the Dutch architect H. P. Berlage, described as the Dutch Frank Lloyd Wright. Berlage believed this would be his greatest work but unfortunately it was also to be his last as…
OK, so I have lied and we are only into the first paragraph! The Princess, the Palace and the Painter is an intriguing title with almost fairy-tale charm. All the characters are real, although the Painter was actually an Artist, but that didn’t begin with a ‘P’. The story is set in The Hague in…
We have many cheese choices in specialist shops and even our local supermarket. Gouda can easily be overlooked. It seems to have been with us forever and we don’t even notice it anymore. The first mention of this cheese dates from 1184, making it one of the oldest recorded cheeses in the world still being…