Private realm in glorious garden

Please note that the address is Achter Raadhoven 45A, a green garden door, and not Achter Raadhoven 45, where our neighbor lives. De Boomgaard (The Orchard) is in the walled garden of an 18th-century house on the legendary Vecht River, where Dutch country life was born. The b&b is a complete cottage of great charm and comfort. Guests have their own entrance, with free parking a few steps from the door. They have their own entirely private bathroom and kitchen. Our B&B is called De Boomgaard, The Orchard. It is located in the garden of an 18th-century manor house on the fabled Vecht River in Utrecht province, in a highly acclaimed garden that has been featured in numerous international magazines. The guests stay in a newly built studio with a private entrance. De Boomgaard has only one B&B facility, so guests enjoy maximum privacy. The sleeping space is on a mezzanine reached by a removable ladder with one railing. Those who have difficulty climbing stepladders should look for other accommodations. There are two beds on the mezzanine that can be moved together. On the ground floor is a comfortable couch-bed for guests up to 1.80 meters tall. There is no separation between the sleeping accommodations above and below. The ground floor measures 5.2 x 4.6 meters, and the mezzanine 2 x 4.6. We cannot accept more than three guests, even if the fourth is a baby. Important information for water tourists: a few yards from the front door of De Boomgaard you can moor your boat in the Vecht on the Zandpad. There is always room and you never have to walk further than a few hundred yards. Your hosts are Loekie Schwartz, a garden writer and art historian, and Gary Schwartz, an art historian specialized in Dutch art, above all Rembrandt. Gary commands English (his native language) and Dutch and gets by in German, French and Hebrew, while Loekie is a whiz in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish. An informative six-minute film on the house, in which Loekie and Gary tell about its history and how they bought it, can be watched on YouTube, under the title "De Boomgaard in Maarssen" (in Dutch, but also available with English subtitles). As a guest you have your own living/dining room with a rich library of garden books, a bedroom on a half-floor, bathroom with shower and a kitchenette. The bedroom is reached with a ladder than can be removed and stowed on a hook in the daytime. We offer tempur mattresses. There is a comfortable couch/bed on the ground floor. The style is informally modern, made more for feeling at home than to impress. When you walk in the door you immediately get the feeling that this is all a person really needs in a dwelling. Access to the house is through a door in the garden wall, adjoining a free parking area. Located behind an 18th-century house on the Vecht River, the mother of country life in the Netherlands. The town of Maarssen has been one of the favorite places in the country for wealthy Amsterdamers for 400 years. The excellence of the location is proved by the fact that numerous bicycle routes pass through Maarssen. These include three routes of the Netherlands Automobilists Association (ANWB): the Country Estate Route, the Holland Water Defense Line Route and the Cross-Country Route from the northern extreme of the country to the southern. Walking routes also cross each other in Maarssen. De Boomgaard provides free bicycles (or if unavailable information on bike rental) for guests. Country recreation is at the door: the Maarsseveense Plassen for pools and a beach on an artificial lake with fishing, rowing and swimming. For sailing, the famous Loosdrechtse Plassen are 10 minutes away. Boats and skiffs are available for hire at nearby marinas. Walking routes along the Vecht River and into the countryside, to protected nature reservations or old farmlands allow for a choice of walks from half an hour to half a day. Although it is located only 2 kilometers from the highway network and from the Amsterdam-Utrecht train line, with a local station, the garden of De Boomgaard is phenomenally quiet. By car, Utrecht is 15 minutes away, Amsterdam 30 minutes, The Hague, Rotterdam and Den Bosch 45 minutes. The garden in which the B&B is located has been published in Dutch and international gardening magazines over the past 20 years. Copies of the magazines are on the reading table. The garden of De Boomgaard is a prized destination to gardening clubs, who throng here every summer. The shopping facilities could not be more convenient. Within five-minute walking distance there are three supermarkets, with in-house bakeries, a leading discount drugstore, a pharmacy, a dairy, a greengrocer and more. The restaurants, cafes and bars in five-minute walking distance are nearly countless and cater to all tastes, from shoarma and take-out French fries to village favorites like outstanding Delice to the (former) Michelin star restaurant Auguste. Two village restaurants serve breakfast: Maarssen aan de Kook, Nassaustraat 18, from 10 a.m. on, and De Eendracht, Langegracht 51, which from 8 to 10 a.m. serves a nice cold breakfast, and from 10 a full breakfast. The Vomar supermarket is close, opening at 8 a.m. every day except Sunday, when it opens at 12 noon. At close driving distance any and all facilities are available. There is The Wall, a highway mall with a Mediamarkt, a BCC appliances store, toy stores and other facilities. The city of Utrecht is a mere 15 minutes away by car, 30-45 minutes by bicycle - bicycles provided by the hosts. Night life for those who are after more than rest. Guests can watch a large number of television stations on their own tablet or laptop when making use of our really good wifi. During your visit we will be happy, if time allows, to show you our own house, an 18th-century country house furnished in appropriate style. We enjoy meeting our guests, sharing stories with them and helping them with their travel plans. But their privacy is always completely assured. A few hundred yards from De Boomgaard are bus stops to the train stations of Utrecht (35 minutes) and Maarssen (10 minutes). Utrecht is a key hub for the European rail network. In less than an hour from De Boomgaard you can be in Amsterdam, The Hague, Leiden, Delft, Rotterdam, 's-Hertogenbosch, Dordrecht and everywhere in the Green Heart of Holland. We lend our guests bicycles when that works out, or help them rent bikes, for lovely rides on the Vecht, the lake area and to Utrecht. Use the key to the garden door only to get in from outside. Do no lock the garden door with the key. It closes on the latch. The couch bed downstairs is not that long. A third guest taller than 1.80 meter might not be very comfortable. We can provide a high chair and some other baby furniture. We cannot accept more than three guests, even if the fourth is a baby. For stays by more than two people for longer than two days, the space is really not suitable. The beds are made up with down quilts and pillows. If you prefer non-allergic comforters and pillows, we are pleased to offer them instead. Just let us know in advance. Guests who return for a second stay will get a bottle of our favorite (Australian) champagne. Guests who return for a third stay of three days or longer get one complimentary day.