A trip to Delft

Delft, the home of Delft Blue porcelain and picturesque canals.  Once a seaport but now an extension of The Hague.  But our purpose was not to look at porcelain or canals, but to stay at the camping ground of Delftse Hout, with the surrounding attractions consisting of a children's farm and a water playground.  

The main reason for our visit, Raphy was going on his first trip in the motorhome.  And he was certainly a very excited little boy.  

Raphy sitting in the motorhome, enjoying his lunch.  Two slices of bread. The first slice with butter on the bread, then honey on the butter. then peanut butter on the honey.  The second slice he repeats the same order. The order is very important to Raphy, and he likes to tell you about this order often.  And if you ask him at the end whether he would like bread or toast he will repeat the sequence again, twice, as he always likes two slices.  So cute.

Delftse Hout.  In the sunshine.   A very relaxing campsite, not cheap, but plenty of hedges for privacy and shelter.

Our motorhome in place.  A pity about the shade.

There are parks surrounding the camping ground.  And an IKEA a short walk away, just in case there is a need for a bit of retail therapy.  IKEA is perfect for that, or an impending divorce if you shop with your partner.

At the children's farm.  There were three peacocks there strutting around showing off their finery and wobbling their bottoms at the five hens, who were not at all interested, as can be seen by the photograph below.

The lambs and their mothers, asleep in the shade of the tree. What a life!

Raphy loved the baby goats.  He spent most of the time hugging them, kissing them and trying to pick them up.   When I was not looking.

Raphy looking for the baby goats.

The minature horse.  Very placid. However I still watched its back hooves.

The goats came in all shapes, sizes and colours.  I liked the ones with long ears.  But one thing was evident, they were obviously continually being mummies, many of them had teenage babies and were about ready to have their next set of babies.

Raphy has found the mother and baby goats again.  But was about to be swamped by  other goats.

This cute goat was very adept at escaping through the gaps in the gates.

The water park, with its sandy beach and plenty of relevant playground equipment, including a  zip wire over the water.  Apparently the water is very clean.

A very large waterpark.  The beach.  At Kijkduin. A lovely sandy beach, and a wide expanse of sand too.  The problem was the river of sea water which separated most of the sand with the waves.  Too deep to walk across, unless wearing very short shorts.

Raphy turning the handle on the corkscrew which brings water up from the stream and deposits it in the shallow tank.  Then it is a matter of lifting the plugs and allowing the water to drain down the open pipes to the reservoirs.  Finally you can release the water onto the sand and channel it back into the stream.   An important learning activity about water management in the Netherlands.

Back to Kijkduin.  My apologies about the photos being out of order.   Technology problems.

The restaurant.  The most important part of the beach.  A place where you can drink coffee, wine or beer while capturing the sunshine.  These places have glass walls around the edges, to keep out the cold winds, while enjoying the sunshine.  Of course it does not work in the rain.

And I look very happy in the sunshine.  I thought it was a little premature to take the scarf off.

Walter and Raphy on the other hand preferred the shade.

This was hard work for Raphy, trying to walk through soft sand in his Wellingtons.

A really lovely two days with Raphy.  And I think he had a pretty good time too.  He loved the food, fish fingers and chips, ice creams and apple juice.

And of course his two slices of bread.  First with butter on the bread, then honey on the butter and peanut butter on the honey.