Canal-side cottages, serene countryside and elegant waterways: A bargain break for families in 'Venice of the North'

• Destination is ideal for those restricted to peak season summer holiday
• Experience the serene Dutch countryside and stunning beach-front pubs
• The two-bedroom Logement Dwarszicht in Giethoorn costs from £40 a day 

By Nazia Parveen for the Daily Mail

Published: 08:25 EST, 21 November 2015 | Updated: 08:25 EST, 21 November 2015

Giethoorn is known as ‘the Venice of the North’ — which is hardly imaginative, but there is certainly plenty of water.

A month’s rain falls in the first two days of our holiday and I begin to feel disheartened.

Things can only get better — and they do. The morning after the last deluge, we awake to the chirp of nesting housemartins in the eaves of our canal-side cottage.

Giethoorn is known as ‘Venice of the North’ - due to the significant number of canals surrounding the cottages

The Netherlands is an economical choice for families who are restricted to peak season summer holidays. Eindhoven is only an hour’s flight from Manchester and air fares are cheap.

Car hire is a snip in comparison to elsewhere in Europe, though many of the houses in Giethoorn in the north-east of the Netherlands are only approachable by foot, bike or water. 

That means parking and walking less than 100 metres across a bridge to our two-bedroom cottage, which is a bargain (£290 for one week), while cycle hire costs less than £10 a day for two people, including a toddler seat.

On our sturdy bikes, we tour the serene Dutch countryside. We even have a glorified kayak with motor attached — which thrills Sebastian, who is only 20 months old.

In fact, he seems to love the Netherlands. He runs around with the ducks in the back garden, waves at cows and sheep as we cycle across the lowlands and dons his baby life jacket with glee for an evening boat ride.

Giethoorn, the main village in the province of Overijssel, is stacked with winding canals, wooden bridges and plenty of pitstops for apple strudel.

Cycling is easy because the landscape is unrelentingly flat — so we get the bikes out every day. All cycle routes are marked on the Ordnance Survey maps and it is almost impossible to get lost.

Nazia Parveen ended the trip back on the mainland near the National Park De Hoge Veluwe

For our second week, we jump in our car and head to Texel, one of the Wadden Islands off the north coast, famed for its sheep and sandy beaches.

Agriculture dominates here — tourism is just an add-on, but with guidance from the friendly locals, we soon find the most beautiful beaches, which remind us of Northumberland, but warmer, and the sand is dotted with blue and white beach huts, rented out for £14 a day.

Each beach is helpfully numbered and has its own restaurant, called a Paal. In typical Dutch style this is hugely efficient but not especially romantic. 

Paals are smart, clean gastropubs with beach-front terraces. For the next two days we bed down at Texel Yurts, near the tiny hamlet of Den Hoorn. It has running water, a wood-burning stove and even its own hammock. Rustic luxury.

We are welcomed with a bottle of organic Argentinian chardonnay and a yurt with a Mongolian flavour — tin lamps and colourful throws.

Giethoorn in the north-east of the Netherlands is only approachable by foot, bike or water

Sebastian is kept occupied by a sandpit and buckets of toys, diggers and tractors. The site is full of families.

We meet the Bricouts, who have driven over from Belgium with their two children. It is their first camping experience and daddy Bricout soon becomes obsessive about collecting firewood.

We end our trip back on the mainland near the National Park De Hoge Veluwe, the green heart of the Netherlands amid acres of forest.

We stay at Hotel Landgoed Het Roode Koper, a former mansion once owned by the Count of Dutch-Indonesia. It’s now run as a luxury hotel, with understated rooms, a heated outdoor pool and sublime food.

We are even given two nights’ free childcare without having to ask.

The Netherlands is not noted as a holiday destination. But with its mild climate, unspoilt dunes, elegant waterways and blissfully open heaths, it should be. At least to those of us on a restricted budget.

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