Step outside on a Saturday morning in early September, coffee in hand, and the only sounds you hear are birdsong and the faint rustle of the Staatsbossen trees edging the garden. No traffic. No crowds. Just the particular silence that Drenthe does better than almost anywhere else in the Netherlands — a province that most Dutch people consider their best-kept secret, and that international buyers are only just beginning to discover.
This detached three-bedroom bungalow at Buinerweg 8-401, positioned at the quieter outer edge of the well-loved Het Land van Bartje holiday park in Ees, sits on a private plot of 699 square metres. That's not a courtyard or a patch of grass — it's a proper garden, wrapping around the house on multiple sides, giving you the breathing room that park-edge plots almost never deliver. The southwest-facing rear terrace catches the afternoon sun until it dips behind the tree line, and from it you look out over open landscape. No fence-to-fence neighbours filling your eyeline. Just space.
Built in 1996 in a low-key rural style that suits the Drenthe countryside, the bungalow covers 73 square metres across two floors and sleeps up to six people comfortably. Ground floor: a bright living room with a full glass façade and French doors that fold back onto the terrace in summer, a wood-burning stove that earns its keep in October and November, a semi-open kitchen renovated in 2020, a double bedroom, and a bathroom that was fully updated in 2024 — bathtub, walk-in shower, modern basin unit, the works. Upstairs, a landing with built-in wardrobe connects two further bedrooms. The whole place is laid with PVC flooring throughout, which sounds unremarkable until you've dealt with the upkeep of parquet or tile in a holiday let. Low maintenance isn't a compromise here; it's the right call.
A new Remeha combi boiler was installed in 2024. Roof, wall, and floor insulation are all in place, as is double glazing throughout — energy label C. The kitchen comes equipped with extractor hood, induction hob, combi-microwave, fridge-freezer, and dishwasher. The property is sold fully furnished and fully equipped. You arrive with your suitcase, and you're home.
Now for the part that makes this particular holiday home genuinely interesting from an investment standpoint. Rental is managed professionally by Landal GreenParks, one of Europe's most established holiday park operators. Occupancy rates at Het Land van Bartje run high — Drenthe sees visitors year-round, not just in summer — and rental income is distributed monthly through a pooled system. You don't chase bookings, vet guests, or coordinate cleaners. Landal handles it. Owners retain the right to reserve the property for personal use, so you're not locked out of your own second home. Upon sale, your share in the cooperative capital is refunded. The financial structure is transparent and well-established.
Het Land van Bartje itself has the kind of facilities that keep families coming back year after year: indoor and outdoor swimming pools, two restaurants, a shop, wellness and beauty treatments, bicycle hire, mini-golf, a pump track, multiple playgrounds including the much-loved Bartje's Farm, and a pony ranch that is, frankly, the highlight of any visit for anyone under ten. Right next door, an 18-hole golf course runs alongside the park boundary — the kind of bonus that golfers rarely find this close to their front door.
The park borders the Staatsbossen directly. These are vast state-managed forests, criss-crossed with cycling and walking routes that stretch for dozens of kilometres through heathland, ancient fen, and pine woods. The Hondsrug — the long glacial ridge that gives this part of Drenthe its distinctive landscape — runs right through here, and the cycling infrastructure is exceptional even by Dutch standards. Rent a bike from the park or bring your own; on a Tuesday afternoon in May, you'll have trails almost entirely to yourself.
Borger is ten minutes away by bike. It's a proper village with a supermarket, restaurants, and the Hunebedcentrum — the national museum dedicated to the megalithic dolmens that dot this part of the country. There are 54 hunebedden in the Netherlands; half of them are within a short drive of this bungalow. It's the kind of cultural detail that sounds obscure until you're standing next to a 5,000-year-old stone passage grave in a quiet field and realising there's genuinely nothing else like it in Western Europe.
Assen, the provincial capital, is roughly 25 kilometres north. Groningen — one of the Netherlands' most vibrant university cities, with excellent restaurants, cycling culture, and the Groninger Museum — is under 45 minutes by car. The A28 motorway keeps the rest of the country accessible, and Groningen Airport Eelde sits about 30 kilometres away.
Drenthe's climate is temperate. Springs arrive with wildflowers on the heath; summers are mild rather than scorching, which suits walking and cycling rather than lying still on a beach. Autumn is arguably the best season — low golden light, heather in purple bloom on the Hondsrug, far fewer visitors. And winters, with the stove lit and the garden to yourself, have their own quiet appeal.
For international buyers, Dutch property law is accessible and well-regulated. There are no restrictions on non-EU nationals purchasing recreational property in the Netherlands. The cooperative structure of the park provides a clear legal framework, and annual contributions to the cooperative are factored transparently into the ownership model. Note that permanent residence is not permitted, and private subletting outside the Landal system is not allowed — this is a holiday and investment property, structured and priced accordingly at €185,000.
Key features at a glance:
- Detached bungalow with 73 m² of living space on a 699 m² private plot
- Three bedrooms sleeping up to six, one fully updated bathroom (2024)
- Kitchen renovated in 2020 with full appliance suite
- New Remeha combi boiler (2024), energy label C
- Full insulation package: roof, wall, floor, double glazing
- Southwest-facing terrace with open landscape views
- Sold fully furnished and equipped — immediate holiday use
- Professional rental management via Landal GreenParks with monthly income pool
- Direct access to Het Land van Bartje park facilities: pools, restaurants, wellness, bike hire, golf adjacent
- Borders Staatsbossen forest with extensive cycling and walking trails
- 10 minutes by bike to Borger, 45 minutes to Groningen
- Cooperative membership included; share capital refunded on sale
- No permanent residence or private subletting permitted
If you've been weighing up a second home in Europe that earns while you're not using it, holds value in a stable property market, and drops you into a landscape that genuinely restores you when you are — this is a serious option. Get in touch through Homestra to arrange a viewing or request the full rental income figures. The terrace and the September silence are worth seeing for yourself.
