All reviews written before the end of April 2025 refer to our old cottage, not this new house, which was completed in April 2025. Both this house, De Krukel, and the “neighbouring cottage” De Boem are owned by Beatrijs Smulders and Roel van Dalen. Beatrijs is a midwife and founder of the well-known Amsterdam Birth Centre. For decades, Beatrijs has been the figurehead of Dutch midwifery, in which home births play such an important role. Beatrijs is also a publicist and author of various bestsellers such as “Veilig Bevallen” (Safe Childbirth), “Veilig Zwanger” (Safe Pregnancy) and “Veilig door het Eerste Jaar na de Bevalling” (Safe through the First Year after Childbirth). She is currently working on a three- or perhaps even four-part trilogy about her life, about women, sex and love. After the first part, “Bloed” (Blood, 2021) and the second part, “Oogst” (Harvest, 2024), which are available everywhere, Beatrijs is working on the third part, with the working title “Bloot” (Naked). The publication by Nijgh & Van Ditmar is planned for early 2027. Beatrijs is married to filmmaker Roel van Dalen. His well-known works include documentary series such as “Een Koninklijk Gezelschap” (A Royal Company) about the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, “De Kinderen van De Hondsberg” (The Children of De Hondsberg) about mentally disabled children, and the documentary “Ajax: Daar Hoorden Zij Engelen Zingen” (Ajax: There They Heard Angels Sing). Roel also writes his own Dutch-language music. His first album, Altijd gaat voorbij (Everything Passes), was released in 2013, his second, Mijn Dag (My Day), in 2019, and his third album, Waarheen we gaan (Where We Are Going), will be released in the first half of this year.

‘The Krukel' was built in early 2025. So all reviews written before the end of April 2025 refer to the old cottage, not this new one. This is important to know, though. The new Krukel is single-storey and has a spacious living room with a huge lounge sofa, two bedrooms, a toilet and a spacious bathroom. The kitchen is fully equipped: a dishwasher, coffee machines, an oven/microwave. There is air conditioning, underfloor heating and fast fibre-optic internet (wireless network).Unfortunately, we do not have a washing machine. There are two televisions, both in the living room and in the master bedroom. In the living room there is a bookcase with literature and children's books. There are also several games, a high chair and a camp bed. The living room opens onto a lovely terrace where you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or just chill out, out of the wind. 'De Krukel' is surrounded by a large garden, which has a real competition trampoline (very nice for the kids!) and where you can sit in the sun and eat outside early in spring. Smoking is absolutely forbidden in ‘De Krukel’ and pets are unfortunately not welcome. By the way, you can park your car right next to the house. A word about the sleeping situation: you need to bring your own fitted sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases. Both bedrooms have a 180 cm -200 cm double bed. There are double duvets of 220 cm - 240 cm. In the storeroom there are four single duvets of 140 cm - 220 cm. You can use these if you don't like sleeping with two people under one large duvet or if you are cold. Please also bring your own towels and tea towels. An important note: unfortunately, we have had to substantially increase the rental prices of our cottages against our will, as the government has raised the VAT rate from 9% to 21%.

Our spot is hidden behind the dunes and forest, which acts as a large windbreak. As a result, the sea breeze passes high over our spot and it is always virtually windless. This is in contrast to the other side of the island, where it blows very often. The clouds always quickly blow over the island again, which is why Texel has a higher number of sunshine hours than the rest of the Netherlands. At our place, the sun's rays feel comfortably warm due to the lack of wind early in the year. Next to De Krukel is our other cottage ‘De Boem’. You can find it on this website or on our own site texelvakantiehuisjes dot com. The two cottages are very suitable for two families to holiday together. The gardens of these cottages border each other and are situated at the edge of the woods, in a central spot on the island. Texel's beautiful beach is just 15 minutes' walk away. Our cottages are not standard holiday homes. We aim for a homely atmosphere, without the functional, often chilly interior that characterises many holiday homes on Texel. The cottages have a cosy interior, wooden floors and cupboards with books. Even if you only stay there for a few days, we like you to feel at home in an atmospheric environment.