Landal Coldenhove, nr Apeldoorn, Netherlands – a review

A review of Landal Coldenhove, nr Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

Our summer trip around the Netherlands took in so many varied places and experiences. And as part of the two and a half weeks we were in the country on our family holiday in the Netherlands we stayed at a number of Landal properties.

These beautiful Green Park resorts are perfect for family stays.

What I love about Landal is that each park is unique and very different to the others. They also blend in with their environment.

So Landal Coldenhove, which is just outside of Apeldoorn. And on the edge of the beautiful Veluwezoom National Park.

This is a picturesque forest setting with the accommodation all set in the trees.

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This is a lovely park which really does feel like you’ve blended in with the countryside. It’s somewhere to properly relax, leaving thoughts of school runs, alarm clocks and organising packed lunches far behind.

Our accommodation – A review of Landal Coldenhove, nr Apeldoorn, Netherlands

The accommodation at Landal Coldenhove is all in single storied buildings. These are as unobtrusive to the forest setting as possible.

Little roads run throughout the park with the houses dotted about within them. We stayed in one of the parks six bedroom homes.

This had a really comfortable open plan lounge, dining and kitchen area.

The lounge had two sofas, a TV (with lots of English channels) and open fire for cosy evenings in.

There was a well kitted-out kitchen with oven, hob, large fridge and all-important dishwasher. It was a great space for cooking meals in and we found it to be a perfect size.

There was a dining table within the kitchen and we also had an outdoor table on a little patio area for meals out on the warm summer evenings.

There were three twin bedrooms which were fairly small in size but perfectly adequate.

At Landal parks you can book your sheets or bring your own. We pre-booked ours and so we arrived to them all being set up ready for us to enjoy.

There was only one bathroom and separate loo which would have been nice if there had been two. These properties are fairly compact but certainly not too small, we found it worked fine for us but was probably the part of the accommodation that seemed least well set out.

It was nice that there was a bath and separate shower.

As I said we found the accommodation worked well. It felt that in general there was enough space to spread out and relax.

The resort

Landal Coldenhove is really well organised for families. There is no reason for anyone to be bored here, there is so much to do for a family holiday in the Netherlands.

Cycling

To start with there is cycling which was one of our key tasks for this trip to the Netherlands.

You can hire bikes by the day and they have everything you could need from tiny bikes with stabilisers for the youngest members through to adult bikes, tandems and bikes with child seats.

There is a vast selection and the staff help you find the right bike for you.

It’s a great system and as the whole site is fairly flat it’s a great place to learn to cycle with few cars driving around.

We spent so much time cycling. Our previously non cycling eight year old even learnt to ride here.

Once she was off we couldn’t stop her, all she wanted to do was get on her bike. She was out from morning until dusk cycling around the woodland roads around our accommodation.

It was absolutely perfect for her.

We would take it in turns to go out for longer rides and it was lovely to be in the middle of the forest, rabbits hopping about and just feeling surrounded by nature.

Swimming – Landal Coldenhove, nr Apeldoorn, Netherlands – a review

There’s a brilliant indoor swimming pool and separate small children’s pool at the park. This has slides into the water, with a lazy river and fun jets which turn on at various times.

Playgrounds

There are some great play areas outside of the main shops and reception building which our children thought were brilliant. From castles to climb through to a large inflatable to bounce on.

There was even a fun mud kitchen to play with.

Something I loved was that there were smaller play areas throughout the park.

Our nearest play area was about a hundred metres away and we could see the children from the lounge. They loved running off and playing there in the morning.

One of our favourite areas of Landal Coldenhove was the huge indoor play area.

This was so brilliant because if there were rainy or cool days we could just head there.

There was a cafe for the adults to grab a coffee and free WiFi too. There were lots of places for them to climb and crawl and slide and play and basically just burn off loads of energy.

Animals

From the five year old up to the 10 year old all of our children thought this was brilliant. There was also a number of animals to go and visit including very large rabbits, happy looking pigs, goats and gerbils.

Ohter activities – Landal Coldenhove, nr Apeldoorn, Netherlands – a review

There was so much more as well from football to tennis there was a huge amount going on, nearly all of it free of charge.

We like there was also bowling which Mr G really wanted to do but we ran out of time.

There were also lots of activities on each day, some of which were free and others a small charge.

These range from den making and wildlife walks. Our two oldest children joined a class at the onsite Brasserie to learn how to make apple pies.

This was well priced at €5 per child and was simply brilliant. The staff were wonderful at explaining what to do and made sure it was also in English and the children understood.

They came home with some tasty apple pies and now knowing how to make real Dutch apple pies means I’m ready for them to cook up a feast at home.

Food

Obviously for the most part Landal Coldenhove is about self catering. There’s a great Spa shop which has everything you could need from fresh bread to lots of fruit and vegetables, even veggie burgers.

We bought everything for our days at the park here and it’s really well priced too.

There were lots of places to pick up food if you didn’t want to cook though. There was a snack bar for burgers and fries.

The snack bar next to the soft play sold paninis. And there was a brasserie which looked beautiful and had plenty of options from meat and burgers to fish and risottos.

And a pizzeria we ate in on one of the evenings. We enjoyed our meal here with garlic bread ciabattas and large pizzas which were really good. We all loved the puddings too of brownies or big glasses of sorbet.

I liked that you could also order pizzas to take away.

The best bits

We love Landal parks as they really represent good, old-fashioned family fun.

They’re the kind of holidays that kids will remember and will beg to come back to (ours already are).

Our children loved the time cycling. Our son learnt to ride his bike at Landal Landgoed ‘t Loo and my daughter learnt here at Landal Coldenhove. Taking her time on the quiet flat roads to get her balance and find her way.

It was the perfect place to learn.

Landal Coldenhove felt so peaceful and full of fresh air and happy times. It was family time, eating together, going from playground to pool and back to the playground and just enjoying a slower pace.

We spoke to other families who come back year after year and I can totally understand why. I have a feeling we’ll be back.

Ready to book Landal Coldenhove?

You can find out more and check availability here. And don’t forget to check out our ultimate guide to the Netherlands with kids for lots more fun trips, tips and inspiration.

Our ultimate guide to the Netherlands with kids

Landal Esonstad

Our summer trip to the Netherlands

Corrie Ten Boom house, Haarlem