The ideal base to discover The Hague
The sea has a special attraction to me. As a child, the weekends at the campsite in Domburg made a deep impression, because after every climb over the dunes there was the sea. Sometimes wild, sometimes calm, but every time I looked at the sea and felt happy. And it’s not just the North Sea that does that to me, everyone, ocean or sea, can do that, anywhere in the world. So when you are asked if you would like to ‘live’ in a house by the sea to discover the city of The Hague, a bit of that feeling of happiness immediately floats to the surface.
The Hague Beach Houses
Since a few weeks there are 20 Hague Beach Houses on the beach of Kijkduin that you can rent. They are houses for four or five people and the houses are a picture to see. Not big but wonderfully comfortable and you have everything you need for a weekend or week by the sea. There are two bedrooms (one with a bunk bed and one with a double bed), a bathroom with shower and toilet and a spacious living area. But the best part of the house is at the front, because that is of course your terrace with the front garden…
Manager Jeroen tells me that the houses are exactly so far apart that you can stand in front of the window and not see the neighbors. And that gives a wonderfully relaxed feeling. In the spring it is still nice and quiet on the beach and when you look out on the clean beach, the waves and the blue sky, a wave of tranquility comes over you. It is such a nice place to be, that you actually completely forget that behind the dunes is also that beautiful city. The city feeling is completely gone here. But that’s what makes it so special at the same time. You imagine yourself completely away from the city, but if you walk across the dunes and take the car or bicycle, you will be in the center of The Hague in no time.
Waking up by the sea
Last week, during perhaps the most beautiful spring days we’ve had so far, one of the Beach Houses in The Hague was mine. And the best thing about sleeping in a cottage by the sea is waking up. Open your bedroom door at night because then the first thing you see in the morning is the sea. And that’s so nice! In the spring it is of course still pretty cool on your bare feet early in the morning, but drinking a cup of tea in the front yard in your coat (for lack of a bathrobe) barefoot is really nice I can tell you.
Do it on the beach of Kijkduin!
Kijkduin beach may be a lot quieter than nearby Scheveningen, but that’s a good thing. You come to Kijkduin for relaxation and these are the three best ways to relax on the beach of Kijkduin!
1. Bring your running shoes
Between Kijkduin and Hoek van Holland there is a beautiful, new cycle path not very long and that path is actually much more fun if you leave your bike there and go for a run. Put on your running shoes, take a good look at where the wind is coming from and then go for a run along the path and back on the beach (or vice versa). These are really the best long runs to do.
2. Kitesurfing at Blow
If you walk a bit to the left from Kijkduin, you will arrive at the Zandmotor, an innovative example of coastal reinforcement. The Sand Motor is an experiment with which Rijkswaterstaat wants to strengthen the coastal defense in a more natural way by constructing a sandbank in the shape of a hook. The Sand Motor was built in 2011 and kitesurfers soon realized that the construction of this sandbank had made Kijkduin a very interesting place for them. This is the ideal place for those who want to learn kitesurfing. You can roughly compare it to a blue slope for skiers, a safe place. Friends Toine and Chris also saw the opportunities for kitesurfing in this place and have been running Blow Kitesurfing School from there for a few years now. I visited them for a first kitesurfing lesson!
You need quite a bit of material for it and it also takes a while before you have the kite in the air, but with your face in the sun and the wind in your hair it is very nice to do. In such a first lesson, Toine teaches me all kinds of things about the wind, about safety and about the material and with his uninhibited enthusiasm you want to be able to do this yourself today. Unfortunately I have an injury that prevents me from finishing the whole lesson, but luckily we can still do some body drag. The kite drags you through the water without standing on a plank and that alone is very cool, you can see how cool it is to stand on a plank. But we’ll do that again soon. Toine also tells me that in a lesson or two or three you can stand on a board yourself and after five lessons you have really mastered kitesurfing. You can take lessons at Blow in groups, but you can also do this individually (much more fun and you learn faster!). I’m disappointed about my injury, but oh well, those wines in the sun at the Suiderstrand were also very nice!
3. The Vault of Heaven
When you leave your house by the sea and walk back to the road via the dunes, you will find the Hemels Gewelf nearby. It is a piece of landscape art in the shape of a bowl, created by artist James Turrell. In this bowl, or small crater, there is a bench exactly in the middle for two people to lie on. If you do, you will see the sky above you take on the shape of a vault. That’s nice on a sunny day, but maybe even more beautiful on a clear summer night, when you can see thousands of stars in the sky.
Of course I also went into town, but more on that later. If you also want to sleep in one of the Beach Houses in The Hague, you have to hurry up with your booking. The houses are very popular (I understand!) and are almost completely full in the summer months. However, they will remain until the autumn and for those who act quickly there are still some holes to be found.
After three days I unfortunately have to hand over ‘my house’ to someone else and that hurts a bit because I really like this city-beach combination. And that’s nice in our own country, at (for me) an hour’s drive. You are close to home, but you are also completely away. A holiday in our own country is not that bad, and certainly not in The Hague!
