5 things I’ve learned since working with child refugees


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1. They don’t all come from Syria




2. They learn the language super fast


3. The asylum process is long


A short video (in dutch) explaining the asylum procedure

4. Not all children are poor



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Al-Shuhadaa Square in Syria before the war

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A snapshot of Eritrea



5. They are incredibly grateful.












Duinrell Review

Being married to a TN’er (typical nederlander) means I’m constantly on the lookout for a bargain. And there’s no better bargain than a holiday one! So when I heard through the powers of facebook that BreakFree Holidays were offering cheap breaks in my adopted homeland I knew exactly where I wanted to book. Duinrell.


What is Duinrell?

Duinrell is a holiday park, theme park and water park all rolled into one. We visited here in the October half term, staying for 4 nights. We had booked through BreakFree Holidays for the bargain price of £230. Looking on the official website for the same dates (albeit staying in chalets as opposed to a caravan) we wouldn’t have seen change from £600!

Bearing in mind how little we had paid my expectations of our holiday were considerably low. I’d never visited the theme park before though my husband had visited both the park and water park about 25 years previously and remembered it being ‘ok’.

But I needn’t have worried. Our trip more than surpassed my expectations and we ended up having a truly wonderful holiday.


The whole complex is located on the edge of the dutch village Wassenaar. It is situated in Western holland so very handy if travelling by boat to the Hook of Holland or flying in to Amsterdam Schiphol airport.

Being on the west side means you have access to some great beaches such as Scheveningen, Katwijk, Noordwijk and Wassenaar Beach.

It is also only a 15minute drive to The Hague, where the dutch parliament buildings are housed. Leiden, a beautifully historic town, is only 20 minutes drive. And perhaps our favourite of all day trips was Madurodam. Located in The Hague, this is more than just a miniature village. It’s a fully immersive tour through dutch history and a celebration of all that is great about The Netherlands.


The holiday park is located on the outskirts of the amusement park, though it’s handy to know that when the theme park closes you are still able to walk through the park to access facilities on the other side, without having to take a massive detour.

The theme park itself is great fun for all ages. We especially enjoyed the Dragon Fly roller coaster, which my youngest was just tall enough for at 100cm. Being a huge DisneyWorld fan I set my expectations quite high when it comes to theme parks and whereas Duinrell is no where in that league, it does have some pretty decent attractions, and no I wasn’t brave enough to go on ‘Mad Mill’!

There are a number of food places available, such as snack bar that does takeaway pizza, La Place restaurant, buffet restaurant and also a well stocked supermarket. We personally found the food to be quite expensive and not the best quality.

The on site shop was very well stocked (except for one morning when they ran out of pain au chocolates) but we found it to be also overpriced. So we took the great advice of many before us and ventured into Wassenaar village and shopped at the local Jumbo.

The arcade is good fun and not badly priced at 1 euro per game. We never got to go bowling or hire bikes, but both are available at Duinrell.

Don’t forget to take a passport size photo of yourself which you need for access into the holiday park and water park. It doesn’t actually need to be a proper passport photo, I just trimmed up some photos I had lying around of us all into roughly the same size as a passport photo!

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As we had booked through BreakFree Holidays we were allocated a Eurocamp 3 bed 1 bath Esprit. Having read that these were somewhat older models, I was apprehensive. And yes the caravan was starting to show its age but it was spacious for our family of 5 and it had a huge deck which I can see in warmer weather being a fantastic addition.

What I loved most about the accommodation was how much room we had outside! Now we could have been just lucky but looking around, no one is crammed in. Every caravan or lodge/chalet had plenty of outside space. You are allowed to drive cars on the site but are expected to park them at the ample group parking spaces located all over the park.

Our caravan was opposite one of the entrances to the park, which meant we could roll out of bed at 9:50 and be on our favourite DragonFly at opening.

It seems that the cheaper the accommodation, the closer to the theme park you are. This absolutely did not bother us as we were happy to be able to nip back to use the toilet or grab something to eat, and we never had any problems with noise. However I can imagine that is not the same for all caravans, and those located nearer to the plaza may have some noise at nighttimes.



This is perhaps the only slight disappointment we encountered on our trip. The food offerings, whilst ample, were not the best quality and over priced.

We ate at the La Place restaurant, which is a self service type eatery, and also ordered food from the snack bar. Both experiences were a let down. Many tourists coming from the UK do so using only public transport, so leaving the site to do a big food shop or eat out is not possible. In my opinion Duinrell need to up their game when it comes to food offering. I don’t mind paying a slight premium but then I expect good quality. However there’s nothing to stop you hiring bikes and cycling off site in search of decent food!

We ventured out twice into Wassenaar for dinner and ate at two very nice Italian restaurants. My advice would be to utilise transport and eat out of Duinrell!


The Tiki Bad

Worthy of it’s own paragraph, the Tiki Bad is quite possibly the best water park in the Netherlands. With 16 different water slides, a dedicated kids and baby area, as well as a wave pool, this pool caters to everyone.

Be aware that there are height restrictions for many of the slides, and also for the use of armbands. My 6 year old son, who has his Swim Diploma, had to wear armbands due to being under 120cm. You can imagine his older brother’s delight when this happened!

The swimming pool opens at 10am and as we had booked through a third party (Eurocamp/BreakFree) we had to pay. We opted for 3 hours pool use for 6.50euros per person. If you book your holiday direct  through Duinrell you are entitled to two hours free pool time (during certain hours) per day.

My advice would be to get there early! We were in the pool at 10:05 and my oldest son and husband had done most of the rides without queueing, in the first 30 minutes. Leaving at lunchtime we could see just how busy the pool had become and were glad we got here early to enjoy the relative peace.

Overall Experience

Despite the disappointment with food we really enjoyed our stay here. There is literally something for everyone. We were very lucky with the weather which meant we usually spent our mornings in the theme park and the afternoon’s exploring the surrounding cities and attractions. And despite it being a school holiday the park didn’t feel too busy due the clever lay out of all the attractions.

The kids still talk about Duinrell and can’t wait to go back and make more rude gestures in the Shadow House!



5 reasons why the Dutch cycle without bike helmets.

There are many shocking sites you see when it comes to the dutch and bicycles. There are the ones carrying up to 4 children at a time; others managing to ride whilst their dog runs alongside attached by a lead; some holding onto another empty bike and others carrying two huge bags of shopping and still managing to wave to their friend as they cycle past. But perhaps the most shocking site of all is the lack of protective head gear. 


It may seem alien to an expat who has just moved to the Netherlands that the majority of the cycling population do not wear a helmet. Most countries in the western world, whilst it is not illegal, take a stern view on cycling without a helmet. So why is it then that the Dutch, a leading country when it comes to innovation and forward thinking ideas, still refuse to wear a helmet…

1. Other road users are more aware of cyclists

Over 27% of all trips are made by bicycle. So that means wherever you are in your car (except the motorway of course), you will almost always be sharing some part of your journey with a cyclist.

And this has remained so for years and years, so all those 17 year olds taking their driving licence will have watched their parents, and grandparents sharing the road with their two wheeler comrades, and know exactly how to act when they are around cyclists.

Compare this to the UK where only 4% of journeys are taken by bike and you can begin to understand why dutch car users are so used to sharing the road, which in itself leads to a lot less fatalities.

Despite the recent headlines stating that Cycling is now more dangerous than driving’ thanks to a report from Statistics Netherlands, director of  the Institute for Road Safety and Research (SWOV) Peter van der Knaap argues that cycling is in fact becoming safer due to the Dutch cycling so much and to a much older age.


2. No one wears a helmet whilst walking…

Ok so it sounds a bit of a weak argument but it’s true! Head injuries aren’t just dangerous when you are cycling. They are just as likely in the car as on a bike, with most head injuries happening whilst walking. Falls are responsible for almost 50% of traumatic brain injuries in the USA. And yet there is never a debate on whether helmets in cars should be compulsory or when heading out for a summer’s stroll.

And in fact there has been research which states that biking with helmets may make the car drivers take MORE risks, as they no longer see the cyclist as being vulnerable, especially if it is a man. So fellas if you insist on wearing head gear then its probably safer to also borrow your wife’s dress at the same time.

3.Helmets can be ineffective

Many Dutch people argue that bike helmets are restrictive and can actually obstruct the vision of a cyclists, making it difficult to quickly look over you shoulder to check the traffic, or make a sharp right turn without hitting anyone. And to further back up this theory that bike helmets are about as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to bike/car collisions, along comes Theo Zeggers, a traffic consultant for Fietsersbond who had this to say:



So helmets may be fine when having a collision with another cyclists, but if you get hit by a car- a helmet will not make a difference. A very controversial statement!


4.They get bike and traffic lessons at school from as young as 5.

‘Verkeerslessen’ or traffic lessons start in school as young as Groep 2 (that’s from about 5 years old). It may just begin with running around the playground and knowing that red means stop and green means go but the idea of obeying traffic regulations is indoctrinated at a very young age. The older they get, the more complicated the lessons become and then before you know it (around 8 years old) they no longer require cars or buses to go on school trips- they all just go by bike!! Imagine the health and safety headache that would give the teachers in the UK!!

Warning kids- please never cycle like this. 


5. They don’t want to become obese!

As you can imagine, cycling every day (the dutch manage at least 70minutes per week!) means they’ve definitely earned their frikandel and fries at the weekend. In fact all this cycling and fresh air means dutch people have a half year longer life expectancy and 6500 deaths per year are prevented according to a 2015 study quantifying the benefits of cycling in NL   .

So what would happen if the Government suddenly decided to introduce compulsory helmet use? According to cyclinguk.org enforced helmet laws in some countries have caused a huge reduction in cycle use, for example in Western Australia bike use has dropped by around 30% since the introduction.

Who knows what would happen in NL if the Government introduced a similar law. It’s possible that it would put people off the many short cycling trips they take if they didn’t have their helmet with them, drastically reducing the amount of minutes a person cycles per week which could mean that they no longer earn that frikandel and fries.Image result for frikandel

The dutch seem to be more focused on implementing good biking practice (such as no drunk cycling or biking whilst apping) and investing huge sums of money into properly lit bike paths, than promoting helmet use.  And with the lowest number of cyclists killed per mile travelled in the world the dutch must be doing something right

What going to a naked Dutch sauna is really like

Yes you read that right. Stark bollock naked. No bikini, no swimsuit, nada. But don’t be alarmed if your work colleague or mum friend from school suggests a visit. Visiting a sauna or spa in the Netherlands can actually be a really fun, liberating experience. Read on for my own personal experience of this typically dutch pastime.

The facilities are amazing

I have been lucky enough to visit a few different dutch saunas* in my 4 years here and I have to say these places are amazing. They are normally set in their own grounds with beautifully appointed changing areas (mixed of course), a huge varieties of swimming pools, steam rooms, jacuzzis, and of course saunas (finish, infrared, salt, asian, four elements, himalayan etc). They also normally have these ‘relax rooms’ equipped with full size beds and blankets that you can just go and take a nap on.Image result for nap time

But don’t panic that the bed mate before you has lain there starkers, everyone gets issued with a bathrobe and slippers (or you can take your own) and in the public areas MOST people will keep their robe on, and only disrobe to actually go into the sauna, steam room, pool etc. Though you do get the odd few who like to walk around the whole time in their birthday suit, but for me it can get a little chilly walking from sauna to sauna especially as many are set over huge grounds outside.

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They have nice restaurants and bars set in the grounds

Most of the spas I’ve been to have a selection of restaurants and bars dotted over the facility, which means you get to enjoy a glass of wine and some fried dutch snacks, or something healthier if you prefer (some spas even offer three course meals or a full buffet- you know how the dutch just love a buffet). And the best bit, you are all sat around munching on your goodies in your bathrobe, you don’t even need to get changed! Just imagine tucking into your portion of bitterballen knowing your own bitterballen are hanging free. Win Win!

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No cameras allowed

No need to worry about voyeurs and weirdoes who secretly try to film you lying back legs akimbo (please don’t do this!!) in the sauna. There is a strict no mobile phones/cameras allowed policy which they will enforce. Plus the age range in these spas tends to average more in the higher figures, many of whom who still have no clue how to work a Nokia 7710 let alone the latest camera phone.Image result for no cameras allowed

Your body confidence sky rockets

The first time I went to a naked sauna I’d not long given birth by c-section and was incredibly self conscious that everyone would be staring at my scar (as well as my dimpled thighs and rather large Kim K like derriere). But I seriously needn’t have worried. Because when everybody is naked you actually realise that in REAL LIFE everybody looks different, but also exactly the same. We all have boobs and vajayjays, willys and bums. Some are saggier, some are bigger, some tummies are rounder, some legs are slimmer. But who gives a shit. I walked out of that spa feeling 10ft high and could see for myself where that dutch confidence comes from.

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*Word of advice- when picking a spa or sauna to visit I tend to always go that little bit further away, as no matter how confident I am I have zero desire to see my kids school teachers/bank manager/mother in law whilst we are both naked, and having to chat pretending like we’re not .




1. Kids start school the day after they turn 4


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2. It’s not full time




3. They come home for lunch



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4. There are no lunchbox police


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5. Kids wear mufti everyday



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6. The first two years are just play based




7. Repeating a year is NOT a big deal




8. Kids cycle to and from school- alone!







9. There is NO homework


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Giving birth in the Netherlands




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Why I chose to have a c-section


Mondays child

How the dutch do it






Birth Day!


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Comparing a dutch birth to one in the UK



Dutch Traditions


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What the heck is Dunglish?


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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com




A Prime Example






It’s not just mistakes
