Out of the ordinary wooden house in peaceful environment near Amsterdam

“Monique's house is wonderful, you can experience a real duch life waking up on the canal and living the quiet life of the marvellous neighborhood. The house is confortable, clean and well equipped and the fine architecture and the canal make unique your experience!! Monique and Hette are very nice and they treat our house better than us. Coming back we founded everything perfect!! It was a great pleasure met them, it made our swap completely successful!! We recomend to go in Holland to Monique's house, It's a great and relaxing experience!! Thank you Monique, Hette and Nina ”

“We had a great exchange with Monique, Hette and Nina. All correspondence was flawless and all questions answered. We really enjoyed our time staying at their home in Alkmaar. They have a fantastic wooden house with its own unique style. It is set in a small cluster on the canals and is ideally positioned and just a short walk to the station and the centre of town a little further but we used the bicycles and found them very handy to go into the centre every day. Alkmaar is a small picturesque city with a laidback feel. We really enjoyed strolling on its pedestrianised streets and having coffee in its cafes and bars along the canals. We also cycled to Bergen aan Zee which was a great day out and perfect to see the countryside on the green route. Alkmaar is also ideal for trips to Amsterdam and Haarlem which we did. We will certainly make a return visit. Thanks guys. ”

“Hette and Monique's house is very easy to find. The house is a lovely living house with everything you need. The location is fantastic. Close to the shops, station and parks. We used the house as a base to see the whole Nederlands. We could do day trips from there and works very well. The town, Alkmaar itself, is very pretty. Anybody who wants to go to The Nederlands and do a swap with this house, will have fun. Enjoy the stay!! We had a fantastic time there. Neil and Helena de Kock, South Africa”

“Notre échange avec la maison de Monique Olsder à Alkmaar s\'est déroulé dans d\'excellentes conditions. Construite en bois dans un environnement architectural au cachet moderne et chaleureux, cette maison a un réel charme. Elle est bien proportionnée pour 2-3 personnes et peut sans doute recevoir un groupe un peu plus grand. La cuisine est moderne et dispose de tout ce qu\'on souhaite. Le canal qui borde la maison au sud est charmant. Nous n\'avons hélas pas pu utiliser le petit bateau à disposition, vu le temps gris et froid qui a régné durant notre séjour. Nous n\'avons pas non plus utilisé les vélos, car configurés pour des tailles plus grandes que les nôtres. En revanche, le soleil était dans les coeurs. Nous avons profité du centre commercial tout proche et des transports publics, qui sont de qualité. La visite de la vieille ville d\'Alkmaar vaut à coup sûr le déplacement, que ce soit de jour ou le soir. Nous avons aussi eu l\'occasion de nous rendre à Keukenhof pour y admirer un exceptionnel parterre de tulipes, ainsi qu\'à Amsterdam, ville incontournable. Merci à Monique, sa fille et son compagnon.”

“We had a fantastic 10 days in Monique, Hette and Nina's lovely wooden house in Alkmaar. It was very easy getting to Alkmaar from Schipol airport and we found it handily located for day trips to surrounding towns of interest (of which there are many - Haarlem, Hoorn, Bergen to name a few!) and of course Amsterdam. The town is charming and the centre is just a ten-minute bike ride away. We were kindly left bicycles to use, which we took full advantage of. The neighbourhood is nice and quiet and there are lots of parks and play areas nearby - more than enough to satisfy our son! There are also plenty of shops in the nearby shopping center. The house itself is amazing: its design, its spaciousness and the setting (right next to a canal). It has a fantastic outside terrace where we enjoyed our dinners, as well as a tree house to play in and a boat. The house was pristine and tidy on our arrival and our hosts had very thoughtfully left us some tasty dinner. Prior to our stay we had exchanged numerous emails and they had given us really thorough and useful information about the house and its surroundings. During our stay, we kept in touch via WhatsApp and they quickly solved any queries we had, which was most helpful. We can thoroughly recommend exchanging with Monique, Hette and Nina - we really couldn't have asked for a better house swap!”

“Monique, Hette and Nina have a special wooden house on the waterfront. The house is cosy and comfortable and there are a great many shops and supermarkets just around the corner, very convenient. They left us little presents and we felt at home at once. Nina's guinea pigs are nice animals and easy to take care of. We used the family's bicycles to go to the city center (wonderful green bike path), to go to the seaside and see the famous tulip fields. We could even use their little boat to make a tour on the canal, very relaxing. We also went to Amsterdam for the day, it is an easy train trip. But in fact we liked Alkmaar bette! There was an easy contact by mail before and during the exchange. Our house was very clean when we got back, all in all a perfect exchange! We thank Monique, Hette and Nina for their good care and their kind words. We highly recommend this exchange.”

“We exchanged with this family for two weeks in summer 2014 and have nothing but good things to say. We very much enjoyed their unique house and the location and it was a pleasure dealing with them before, during and after the exchange. A very positive experience and highly recommended!”

“Nous avons adoré la belle maison en bois au bord du canal et son environnement très dépaysant. Beaucoup de couleurs et d'originalité dans une maison très confortable. Que de surprises dans cette belle région! Les maisons, les moulins, les canaux; et les nombreuses pistes cyclables!!! Superbes et nombreuses balades à vélos. Merci à Monique, Hette et Nina pour leurs précieux conseils et leur extrême gentillesse. Un bel échange fait en toute confiance et parfaitement réussi.”