Step outside on a Saturday morning in July, and the first thing you notice is the silence. Not the dead kind — the living kind. Pine resin drifting on a light breeze, the faint crunch of a cyclist disappearing into the tree line thirty meters from your front door, a woodpecker working somewhere deep in the state forest that runs right up against the back of the park. This is Ees, Drenthe, and this three-bedroom bungalow sits at the very edge of Het Land van Bartje holiday park — which means you get the full benefit of the park's facilities while the forest essentially starts in your back garden.
The bungalow itself was built in 1996 and sits on a 294 m² private plot that wraps the house in greenery on all sides. The southwest-facing sun terrace is the detail that matters most in a Dutch summer — afternoon light here stretches past nine in the evening, and the terrace catches every last minute of it. Sliding doors from the living room open directly onto that terrace, so the line between inside and outside blurs in the best possible way. The fireplace in the sitting room earns its keep come October, when the forest turns amber and the evenings arrive earlier.
At 69 m², the layout is honest and efficient. Ground floor: a hallway with a wall-mounted WC, a bright bedroom ideal for guests or anyone who wants everything on one level, the living room with its terrace connection, and a fully equipped open kitchen with gas hob, oven, dishwasher, extractor hood, and a fridge-freezer. The kitchen isn't an afterthought — it's properly kitted out, which matters when you're here for a week and actually want to cook. Upstairs, a landing with a built-in wardrobe leads to two more bedrooms, making this a genuine family bungalow rather than a weekend cabin. The bathroom was completely renewed in 2023 — new shower screen, new washbasin unit, fresh throughout. The toilet got the same treatment at the same time. These aren't cosmetic updates; they're full replacements, and they show.
Flooring is laminate downstairs and PVC upstairs — both practical and clean. The Vaillant combi boiler (2014, gas-fired, owned rather than rented, which matters for running costs) feeds the central heating. Floor, wall, and roof insulation plus double glazing throughout give the property an energy label C rating — solid for a park bungalow of this era. Exterior paintwork was professionally redone in 2026, so the place looks sharp from the street. An indoor storage room accessible from outside via its own entrance houses the central heating unit and has both electricity and heating — useful for bikes, muddy boots, and everything else that comes with a forest lifestyle.
The park, Het Land van Bartje, is named after the famous fictional boy from Bartje Bartels, a Dutch novel set in Drenthe — that local connection runs deep in this region. The park's facilities are genuinely extensive: indoor and outdoor swimming pools with slides, restaurants, a park shop, an indoor playground, a beauty and wellness centre, bicycle rental, a pump track, mini-golf, a pony ranch, playgrounds, pool billiards, and a laundry. A golf course sits directly adjacent to the park boundary. For families with children, the list of on-site entertainment effectively runs itself.
Beyond the park gates, the Drenthe Hondsrug — a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2015 — gives you one of the most distinctive landscapes in the Netherlands: ancient ridges, fen pools, and hundreds of kilometres of marked cycling and walking routes. The Hunebedcentrum in Borger, just a few minutes' drive, is where you'll find the largest megalithic tomb in the Netherlands and an excellent exhibition on the people who built them. Borger itself has proper shops, cafes, and a weekly market. The city of Assen, capital of Drenthe and home to the TT Circuit Assen (which hosts the Dutch MotoGP round every June, drawing 100,000 people to the province), is about 30 kilometres away. Groningen, a genuinely lively university city with a strong restaurant scene, great museums, and direct international connections, is roughly 45 kilometres north. Groningen Airport Eelde is the most convenient flight option; Amsterdam Schiphol is about 2.5 hours by car.
Drenthe's climate is temperate and manageable — summers are warm enough for terrace living from May through September, winters are mild rather than harsh, and autumn in the forest is something people come back for specifically. The deciduous trees around the park turn properly gold in October, the crowds thin out, and the cycling routes are at their most atmospheric.
On the investment side, this is a ready-made rental property. Het Land van Bartje is managed under the Landal GreenParks umbrella, one of the largest and most professionally run holiday park operators in Europe. Rental is handled entirely by Landal — private rental management isn't permitted under the park's terms, but that's a straightforward trade-off: Landal's occupancy rates are consistently high, rental income is distributed monthly via a pool system (each property type in its own pool), and you carry none of the administrative burden of managing bookings, cleaning, or maintenance scheduling yourself. The property is currently rented out and that arrangement continues seamlessly after purchase. As an owner, you can also reserve the property for your own use — just book ahead through the standard owner process.
The full inventory — furniture, kitchen equipment, everything — is included in the asking price of €175,000. You are buying a property that is genuinely ready for immediate use or immediate rental. No furnishing project, no appliance shopping, no gap between purchase and income.
Permanent residence is not permitted under the recreational property classification — this is a holiday home and second home in the true sense, not a primary residence. For international buyers, that distinction is clearly defined and well-understood within the Dutch legal framework. A local notary handles the transfer; the process is straightforward and transparent.
Key features at a glance:
- 3 bedrooms across two floors, sleeping a family or group comfortably
- Bathroom and WC completely renewed in 2023
- Full inventory included — move-in or rent-out ready from day one
- Southwest-facing sun terrace with sliding door access from the living room
- Fireplace in the living room
- Fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher, oven, gas hob, and fridge-freezer
- Edge-of-park position with direct forest access and walking/cycling routes from the door
- Private parking on site
- Indoor storage room with electricity and heating, accessible from outside
- Landal GreenParks rental management in place — currently rented, income generating
- Vaillant combi boiler (2014, owned), full insulation package, energy label C
- 294 m² private plot with wraparound garden
- Adjacent to Het Land van Bartje park facilities including pools, restaurants, and wellness centre
- Golf course directly next to the park
- 30 km from Assen, 45 km from Groningen
If you've been weighing up a second home in the Netherlands that pays for itself when you're not there and delivers genuine nature and quiet when you are, this bungalow in Ees is worth a serious look. Properties on the park edge with this combination of condition, rental infrastructure, and forest outlook don't sit on the market long. Get in touch with the team at Homestra today to arrange a viewing or request the full rental income figures — the numbers tell a clear story.
