Drive NL: Kasteel Middachten

Last Sunday, we left Kevin at home with his books and drove 130km east for a picnic with some friends at a castle.

It was sweltering hot and a certain little person was in a super foul mood.  This explains the lack of photos for this post.

Walking to the castle for the indoor tour.

Kasteel Middachten is still a working estate and only open to the public at certain times of the year.  It has been kept within the family over the generations and is now managed by the 24th Lady of Middachten.  The current house was built in the late 17th century.  The interior was not large but beautifully decorated with antique pieces.  There were English speaking guides downstairs in the kitchen and they gave us some interesting anecdotes. See http://www.middachten.nl/.

We would have liked to spend more time in beautifully kept gardens but unfortunately the weather was just too hot.  A visit in spring or autumn would have been lovely.  And in winter, there is a Christmas market on the grounds, and every room of the castle would have a Christmas tree.

At 4.30pm (closing time), we bid goodbye to the castle and drove 30 minutes to Bennekom for pancake at what used to be an 80 year old farm.  De Panorama-Hoeve is a bit of an institution in this part of Netherlands, having been around for so long.  See http://www.panorama-hoeve.nl/.

At 5pm, the place was packed with locals having their dinner.  Lucas was a lot happier after running around in the playground and making friends with the pig and goats at the little petting zoo.

There was no room at the terrace so we sat in the converted farmhouse, beautifully decorated with rustic charm.  And the pancakes were delicious!

Ham, cheese and pineapple pancake. 

Remnants of the berries pancake in the foreground.