Our house and us
Our house is situated in the pretty Hanseatic town of Zwolle, which is about an hour and a half from Schiphol airport, and just over an hour from the capital Amsterdam.
Zwolle has about 120,000 inhabitants and a wide range of cultural attractions – there are museums, theatres and cinemas, including an arts cinema, and a number of festivals in the summer months. On warm days, you can eat and drink outside until late in the evening at the numerous pavement cafés.
Zwolle’s key features: a small-scale town with easy access for cyclists and pedestrians with an attractive medieval town centre surrounded by water.
Wikipedia
Virtual tourist

Who we are
Sally: early-40s, biologist, freelance translator and editor and university lecturer
Mark: mid-40s, teacher, graphical designer and house/DIY-man
Emil: creative, sociable type, nearing the end of his primary school days
Daphne: also creative with a sense of humour, halfway through primary school.

We are in constant motion
The house is often in a transformation process. The photos as you see them now may no longer be up to date since we are continually making changes. Some of our furniture is from IKEA, other items come from second-hand shops or online market places, but purchases are usually made with our day-to-day lifestyle in mind – to fit in with our young children and their friends (e.g. dirty shoes, endless toys, crumbs and stains!). Our house is therefore certainly suitable for families with children.
We love being at home but are also keen travellers: visiting family in England or Morocco, back down memory lane in Greece where we used to live, or off to Australia, America or Canada – mainly thanks to Mark’s passion for seeing the world which he kindly shares with the rest of the family.

Our neighbourhood
The terraced houses in our street were built in about 1930 by Philips Electronics for its employers. Nowadays, families with young children occupy many houses in the neighbourhood. There are numerous parks and playgrounds in the area, an open-air swimming pool (for members) and a ‘Do-park’, complete with Earthship and tea house.
The medieval town centre can be reached in about 5-10 minutes on one of our bikes, or about 15 minutes on foot. There is a Spar supermarket only 2 minutes around the corner and several larger supermarkets and other shops just a 5-minute bike ride away.
We use our car as little as possible. Unless the weather is terrible we prefer to cycle and for further distances we prefer the train. In Zwolle, and in many other parts of the country, the cycle paths are separated from the road and have their own traffic lights and tunnels; there are even ‘rapid cycle routes’ where cyclists are given priority over cars. There are several cycle routes in the area, some using a system of numbered junctions to make finding your way easier. Shopping could not be easier with our purpose-built orange transport bike (see photo), which can almost carry a week’s shopping!
You can also go by bike to the train station where, for a small fee, you can leave it there all day while you take the train to visit one of the destination named below.
There is also a bus that goes to the station about every 15 minutes (depending on the time of day); the bus stop is less than a minute’s walk from our front door.

Recommended destinations
Amersfoort: 40 minutes
Utrecht: 1 hour
Amsterdam: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Emmen: 1 hour by train. This small town’s large zoo is great for small kids and is walking distance from the station.
Arnhem: 45 minutes by car or 1 hour by train. Has a fantastic open-air museum next door to a world-famous zoo. From Arnhem you can catch an international train to Germany and Switzerland.
Groningen: 1 hour by train. Has a great modern art museum across from the train station.
Apeldoorn: 40 minutes by car. National park ‘De Hoge Veluwe’ has free bikes that take you through the park containing the famous Kröller-Müller art museum and sculpture garden.
Giethoorn: The Venice of Holland...
Elburg: 40 minutes; walkable fortified town.

Funparks within an hour:
The Dolfinarium theme park in the nice small town of Harderwijk, 40 minutes by car or train
Walibiworld (sixflags)
Hellendoorn, most adventurous amusement park of The Netherlands
Ponypark Slagharen, amusement park
De spelerij, Dieren (Dutch only website)
De Flierefluiter, Raalte, Playground, camping, kidsfarm, (Dutch only website)

Nature & eco parks within an hour:
Hof van Twello, Dieren (Dutch only website)
Oostvaardersplassen, Swamp - national park (Dutch only website)
Sallandse heuvelrug, Small hill with nice walks - national park (Dutch only website)

Dutch Islands:
http://www.dutch-frisian-islands.com

Public transport
From the airport to our house: Schiphol taxi....
Train: NS (Zwolle trainstation: some renovation disruptions July - August 2012)
DB (Germany) For international trains.
Public transport route planner: 9292
Tickets: OV Chip chard info:
Will you travel by public transport only once in a while, or are you entertaining foreign guests for a few days? In that case, the disposable card is a practical choice. It can be bought at the (bus) station. After usage, the card cannot be reloaded and can be thrown away. The disposable card can be purchased in much the same way as you used to buy a train ticket before: per journey or combination journey, for example, 5 same-day return journeys or an OV day card.

Car
You are welcome to make use of our somewhat dated Toyota Corolla that you will find parked in the street. The car is in good working order, is equipped with air-conditioning and has a manual gearbox.
If you want to hire a larger car or one with an automatic gearbox then there is a Hertz dealer just 10 minutes walk away:
HERTZ
Boerendanserdijk 31b
8024 AE Zwolle, tel: 038-4546120

Road Traffic Signs and
Regulations in the Netherlands
(download pdf)



Links:
Hotspotholland: Your essential travelguide to The Netherlands
Weatherradar: http://www.buienradar.nl