Zeeland

Boats are my main recollection from Zeeland. Not to be confused with it’s much larger southern hemisphere namesake New Zealand, this province of The Netherlands is the most southwesterly and shares a border with Belgium. So called as it is nearly as much sea as land, this part of the Netherlands is effectively three fingers of land reaching to the sea, plenty of islands, and salty inland seas which are huge playgrounds for boats, which line these inland coasts.

Everywhere you go along the winding coasts you see forests of masts - from basic training sailboats to larger masted sailing boats. Yachts, speedboats, barges….well why wouldn’t you have a boat in a place like this?

Veere harbour

We were fortunate to be able to go out with some friends on their speedboat - a truly memorable day. We pulled up at a small island for a picnic amongst wildflowers, their little dog enjoying a frolic whilst we ate, chatted and watched other boats pass us by.

After plenty of fun speeding about, we pulled into the harbour at the little town of Veere. We’d actually been there once already by car, but it was a totally different experience to arrive by boat. We enjoyed drinks on the boat and my memory of our time there plays to a background of jazz from a nearby restaurant.

Veere also exemplifies my other main impression of this area - neatness and paint. I don’t know if the Dutch originated the phrase ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ but it certainly seems they live that way. Not every street in every town or city we went to looked absolutely immaculate, but most did. Maybe it’s a tie over from the importance of keeping one’s boat in good order, but whatever the reason, I’d be very interested to see the Dutch national expenditure on paint. I’d reckon it to be well above average.

Street scenes in Veere:

Veere Town Hall

Details of homes in Middelburg:

Windmills need maintenance as well and the Dutch make sure they get it.