Wassenaar

Today we finally visited a place this been on my "to visit" list for quite a while, Wassenaar. This affluent little town lies in the province of Zuid-Holland, about 47km SW of Haarlem and 12km NE of Den Haag. It is home to a large number of ex-pats, particularly Americans, who work mainly in the diplomatic industry in Den Haag and many large ambassadorial residences are located there.

Eikenhorst, the official residence of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, his wife Princess Maxima and their three children (one of whom, Princess Alexia, was baptised in the main church of Wassenaar, the Dorpskerk) is also just to the SW of the town. Another attraction just outside Wassenaar is Duinrell, a large amusement/water/holiday park but now is not really the time of year to be visiting such a place so we'll leave that until the summer perhaps.

The main beach at Wassenaar is the Wassenaarseslag, located about 2km along a scenic road which runs through the dunes between the town and the coast. Up in Haarlem, and for the entire journey down to Wassenaar, it had been quite a pleasant day and so I thought a visit to the seaside would be very nice. But as we got close to the beach it started to get very foggy and once we had parked the car and made our way down to the sand we found that the fog there was very thick and it was impossible to see more than a few hundred meters. It was also very cold and so we decided to cut short our visit and go somewhere else instead.

Before we left though I was able to spot an interesting memorial just outside the main car park. This commemorates six French WW2 commandos (lead by Captain Charles Trepel) who were killed on the beach during a raid against a German V-2 rocket launch site in February 1944.

Our next destination was a section of the coastal dunes called Meijendel. To get there we had to pass through the centre of Wassenaar, driving along very pleasant wooded avenues containing some very large and expensive looking houses. We also passed the Royal Haagse Golf Club, the oldest and most exclusive golf course in the Netherlands.

At Meijendel we parked close to the main complex which contains an old farm which now houses a pancake restaurant, a small visitor centre (closed at the moment due to it being off-season), a large picnic/play area and a large barn which looked like it might once have housed a number of horse but was empty when we visited. There are a number of walks around the complex as well as various small nature trails through the woodland which contain small information boards about some of the flora and fauna that are visible, for example an ant-hill and a small pond.

The pancake restaurant was very welcoming and cosy with a large open hearth fire in the centre around which it was possible to sit and relax after a tiring walk. This area was full when we arrived but instead we sat at a nearby table and ordered some food. I choose a very tasty cherry and whipped cream pancake whilst Luz went for the traditional Dutch winter soup, Erwtensoep (or "snert" as it is often called in the Netherlands). This is a very thick pea soup with large pieces of sausage and various other vegetables such as carrot, onion and or potato. I find it a bit hit and miss, sometimes it can be delicious other times not so much but it is very popular over here during the cold winter months.

By the time we had finished our meal it was starting to get dark and so we decided to leave. We will certainly go back there another day to explore further though.