Chapter IX
Where we dine and sleep in South Holland
Country estates, lakes and old Dutch towns. In South Holland you sleep in a former orphanage, a water tower or a manor from 1751, with a starred restaurant or kitchen-garden cooking downstairs.
In South Holland the book holds three addresses for now. When we come across more that belong here, they go in. If we had to pick one, it would be Central Park Voorburg. If you are coming for a star, try Central Park Voorburg and Weeshuis Gouda. The next place is still empty: that is the address we are trying next.
Boutique hotel with starred restaurant on a country estate
A wine list worth staying for, so we stay.
A country house from 1751 in a park by Zocher, where kitchen, cellar and bed are close together. We come here so we needn't watch the clock at dinner.
Lakeside restaurant with rooms
A restaurant with rooms on the water, and no fuss beyond that.
Simpler than most places in this diary, and we mean that kindly. You eat whatever is good locally that fortnight and sleep with the lake outside the door.
Boutique hotel with starred restaurant in a former orphanage
An old orphanage you'll gladly stay the night in these days.
Sharon and Lennart van Gastel turned the old town orphanage into a hotel with a wink. Remco Kuijpers cooks at LIZZ, and bed is never far away afterwards.
Our book lists three addresses in South Holland: Central Park Voorburg in Voorburg, De Watergeus in Noorden and Weeshuis Gouda in Gouda.
Central Park Voorburg in Voorburg. A country house from 1751 in a park by Zocher, where kitchen, cellar and bed are close together. We come here so we needn't watch the clock at dinner. If it is full, we ring De Watergeus.
For two, count on € 260 at De Watergeus up to € 500 at Central Park Voorburg, for dinner, one night and breakfast. Amounts come from their own booking systems, for a weeknight in November 2026.
Yes: at Central Park Voorburg in Voorburg and Weeshuis Gouda in Gouda. After dessert you just walk upstairs.
