tomboy

Has your wife ever seen the working windmill in Holland, Michigan?

jmw44

If you happen to be in the UK, I think there's a windmill B&B in Bradford-on-Avon, which by the way is a lovely town. J.

Chatters

I am so with your wife on her love of windmills!! Love the ingenuity, the beauty, the setting....ahhhh!

Totally second the suggestion on Kinderdijk. This town was suggested to us by a local and we were so glad to get a car and go visit. Dozens of windmills lined the waterway, with a nice trail from where to take great pics. Have a hot chocolate on one of the cafes in town and enjoy!!

jmf314159

Thank you all for your input.

My wife and I have been to Brugge. It is, indeed, a beautiful place. But no, tombow, we have never been to the windmill in Michigan.

Kinderdijk sounds wonderful, as do both open ait museums. I'd be interested to get more feedback comparing Zaanse Schans with Openluchtmuseum.

Thank you again for your feedback.

Tulips

I'm sure there's a hotel in a windmill somewhere in Holland; I remember reading about one, but can't find it.
I did find this one; a hotel with a restaurant in a windmill; http://www.arendshoeve.nl/
The website looks good. It seems to be roughly between Den Haag and Utrecht.

If you want to search; try the dutch word for windmill; molen

I had a great-grandfather who had a windmill. It's still standing, but not used anymore, only occasionally for demonstrations. There are lots in small villages all over Holland, but Kinderdijk is a good place to see them.

KT

I haven't been to Zaanse Schans, but I've always been under the impression that it's rather twee. Perhaps that's unfair, but that's what several Dutch people have told me.

I have been to the Netherlands Open-Air Museum near Arnhem and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite a bit more extensive than Zaanse Schans, and has buildings from a number of regions grouped together by region, as well as an exhibition of traditional costumes and other features.

I just poked around on their wbesite. The only thing I found in English was the general information page:
http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/zomers...engels-01.html

But if you go to that page and click on Collectie and then on Gebouwen you can get an idea of the range of buildings, including the windmills.

hopscotch

As others have suggested, the Zaanse Schans is a good choice. It is designed to be touristy but it is very well done and you can climb around in one of the mills. I bought my wooden shoes there.

An old mill has been reconstructed in Haarlem also. As the train comes into town passing over the Spaarne River you can see it in the near distance on the south side. I believe that it is open for visitors. Haarlem is less than 20 minutes from Amsterdam by train.

jules39

From the guide book I gather that Zaanse Schans is open all year. We will be in Ams mid Feb and we'er planning on taking a trip out there. Can anyone clarify that it is open all year and that as it seems we will be able to go into a working mill at that time?

Thank you all for your time and info.
J

MyriamC

Jules: their website says that the working mills (2) are open daily from March till October, on weekends only from November till February.

jules39

Thanks Myriam this matches the info I have perfectly.

Appreciate your response

J

lesliec1

Kinderdijk is the best way to see the most windmills in the smallest area! If you rent a car, you might try to also see the Hoge Veluwe National Park, which has a great art museum in it. On our recent trip, we stayed 2 nights in Leiden (about an hour train ride from Amsterdam), visited the museum at the de Valk windmill, rented bikes at the train station and rode up to a nearby lake area with lots of windmills in it. The VVV office across from the train station has maps showing the bike route. It was a lot of fun. All the gory details are in our trip report on this site. (Note: keep rain poncho handy.)