Castle Sterkenburg in the Netherlands

Welcome to Castle Sterkenburg, a bed & breakfast in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands! :)

 

This B&B was a unique surprise and a great experience, comprised by both the mystery of a 13th century castle exterior and the luxury of 21th century amenities! We arrived in the late afternoon last Saturday after shopping in Den Bosch and Utrecht and were impressed by the castle and its nice surroundings, just outside of the residential area of Utrecht and about 15 kilometres from the city centre. The inside of the castle is very nicely decorated. It sometimes feels, due to the vast amount of different items, a bit like inside a museum, where every object has its own history. We were warmly welcomed and brought to our large and very comfortable renovated room. Every room has a name, not a number. Our room was the "pauwen" room in the 13th century tower. Due to the high ceiling the rooms can be quite cold and it took some time to warm it.

 

The offer included a 4-course dinner and we were informed that the restaurant was not in the castle but 15 minutes driving away. It turned out to be a really lovely place, named Brocante (www.brocante.nl), with excellent food and very warm and attentive personnel. We enjoyed every bite and second there in a fabulous ambiance ;) 

 

One thing I have to confess is that I was afraid of the castle-ghosts during the night the owner told us about, and woke up several times, because of strange noises...

 

The next morning breakfast was just delicious, the best quality and fresh products, not a typical B&B breakfast. We were nicely surprised by the effort as it was one of the best breakfasts ever :) At the end we had a small private tour through the castle by the owner, which gave us an even better overview of the whole place. We could see that he works very hard to renovate this place and to make it even more cosy.     

 

I only recommend this place, who would not like to spend at least a night in a real castle.... ? :)

 

The only thing I would recommend to be improved is that every time you arrive at the castle-gate, you have to call the owner to open the gate... this is a somewhat time-consuming procedure.

 

Hotel d'Aertrycke in Torhout

Hello there! :) 

The month of January, including every weekend focusing on guests, was very busy at work for both of us, so last weekend was planned as a relaxing time off in Flanders. I was especially looking forward to it and hoping for some quality time to celebrate Marijn's birthday and my four years in exile anniversary. As soon as we arrived at Hotel d'Aertrycke in Torhout it appeared to be everything but a cosy and romantic place. While we expected a 4* hotel website photos and description to have been touched-up, what we saw and experienced was nothing more than a 2* hotel at best. We were given a dirty, very basic and old room, the corridors were smelly and dusty...... nothing that you would expect from a 4* hotel.... and those are only few examples of many.

Disappointing experiences are part of traveling and we have learned an important lesson to always carefully check the reviews before booking any hotel! On the positive side: the kindness of the staff, the surroundings (but still nothing very spectacular), and the dinner in the castle merit to be mentioned. In conclusion, we will not come back there and I am afraid I can't recommend this place to anyone. The bitterness of poor quality will remain long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.        

Hotel d'Aertrycke

 

The best thing we could do on Saturday was to go to Bruges, which is only 30 minutes drive from Torhout. This lovely city, called the Venice of the North, is definitely worth the visit even if only for couple of hours. Btw, we discovered very nice Indian restaurant, out of the tourist area, which offers excellent cuisine in very nice and traditional atmosphere.....you shouldn't miss it: www.shalimar-tandoori.com .We enjoyed it very much and will come back! :)