Questions and Answers Retreat Studio The Dunes

Parking is at the public parking space Noorderstraat. If you want to get closer to the house to unload luggage, you can drive as far as the entrance gate. Half of this gate is permanently locked to avoid car traffic on the grounds. There is a cart available for your luggage, you find it at the gate or near the bicycle parking.The distance from the gate to the studio is approximately 140 meters.

When arriving in an electric car, please make sure you arrive with fully loaded batteries. There is no loading station at ZeeVELD or at the nearby public parking place. It is not allowed to charge your batteries through a regular socket on the grounds: the protection of the natural environment demands these remain free of cars.

See under Kitchen equipment.

The kitchen is well-equipped with a water boiler, refrigerator/freezer, dishwasher, two burner induction cook top, combi microwave/oven and, for coffee: a Nespresso machine, a French Press coffeemaker, a filter coffee machine and a percolator. Also present: a milk frother. 

Plates, glasses and cutlery: there is a lot of it. 

Also included in the kitchen equipment: (hand)mixer, cake tin, apple pie tin, cooking pans, baking pans, wok pan, oven dishes and juicer.

Kitchen towels, kitchen paper, foil, cleaning wipes and sponges are also provided, as well as dishwashing brush, dishwashing liquid and dishwasher tablets.

Sadly, using a barbecue cannot be allowed. The mostly vegetarian guests of the retreat house do not appreciate the smells of burnt meat. 

See here

Always highly recommended: renting a bicycle. It adds a great value to your stay when you have a bicycle available to hop on for a quick dip in the ocean.

Bicycles can only be parked outside in the garden. Walking from the entrance gate towards the house, you find it at your right, where you also see the various waste containers. 

Walking or cycling
It takes about 40 minutes to walk to the beach through the dunes via the Noorderstraat, or about ten minutes by bike. You will reach Strandslag Scheilaan (called 'Schellaan' on the map). A quiet beach without pavilions or anything. You can take a look at the map here. Bikes can be parked near the beach. 

By car
You can always take the car via another road (the Zeeweg) towards the beach Castricum aan Zee. There is entertainment to be found here. About ten minutes away from Zeeveld. The beach pavilion we hear the best stories about: Deining.

Check-in from 3:00 PM and check-out no later than 11:00 AM.

There are dishwasher tablets in the house. See under: Kitchen equipment.

You need to buy an entry card to the dunes to be able to walk or cycle around in the dune area. Day and week cards are available to buy at the machine next to parking lot Noorderstraat. Also see: Why entry card to the dunes?

First-aid box
Bandages, plasters, tick tweezer, remedies for insect bites etc. can be found on the inside of the doors under the bookcase  

Doctor:
Weekdays during the day:

Huisartsenpraktijk Bakkum
Eerste Groenelaan 12a
1901HS CASTRICUM
+31 (0) 251 65 24 28

Urgent - evenings, nights, weekends and during public holidays:
Huisartsenpost Midden-Kennemerland
Rode Kruis Ziekenhuis,
Vondellaan 13
1942 EL Beverwijk
+ 31 (0) 251 26 52 65.

By appointment only (by telephone)

Pharmacies
Apotheek De Brink
Torenstraat 64
1901 EG Castricum
+ 31 (0) 251 65 25 00

or
Geesterduin Apotheek
Geesterduinweg 42
1902 CD Castricum
+ 31 (0) 251 65 50 66

See:Thuisbezorgd.nl. Make sure you give detailed address instructions and ask the delivery service to call you on arrival at the gate, so you can collect it there.  

Walk from the studio towards the entrance gate. Some 20 meters before you arrive at the gate, you see on your left hand a wooden sign 'Afval'. Make a left here and you see the different containers for the different kinds of waste: Organic ('GFT'), Paper, Plastic, Glass and the grey container for everything else.  

See here under 'Stores', or under 'Organic Food'. 

Three infrared panels on the ceiling can heat the studio on demand. The thermostat is attached to the wall to the right of the kitchen. During the day it is recommended you set this at least at 18° to make sure the walls and floor stay warm enough. Then, when you want it warmer, the studio will warm up easily. 

At night you may want to turn the thermostat down a little more, since one of the infrared panels is rather close to your bed.  

In Castricum itself, see: Reuring op Stal. In Egmond aan de Hoef: Manege Groot.

The house manager lives nearby. You can call and leave a message on the answering machine at 0251-658457. You can also try calling (or app): 06-28060191. Responses are ususally quick.

The linen package is included in the rental price. It contains duvet and mattress cover, pillow cover, towel, washing cloth. Are you staying longer or planning to go to the beach? Bring an extra towel and beach towel.

Kitchen cloths, cleaning wipes and sponges are also provided.

Did you leave something behind? Mail us with your address at: info@zeeveld.nl. If indeed we did find it, we will be happy to send it back to you. The costs involved are €17,50 for postage and handling, to be paid to Stichting Jan XVII, IBAN: NL83TRIO 0338 6497 94; The BIC: TRIONL2U.  

Ekoplaza, Torenstraat 34 1901EE Castricum + 31 (0) 251 654 916

You can park at parking lot Noorderstraat, a few hundred meters away. This is free. Don't leave valuables in the car.

See here

Pets and service animals are not allowed. Even if they are very small and quiet and sweet. Pets are welcome at Burgers Dierenhotel in Egmond, in the local area.

• Restaurant Aan het Bosch, six minute walking distance through the forest.

Route: leave the gate, go right onto the sandy path, walk for four minutes until you come across a sign on the left hand: turn left onto the forest path: Hotel Koningsbosch. At the end of this path: Restaurant Aan het Bosch.

• Guesthouse Het Ruiterhuys, ten minute walking distance through the forest

Route: leave the gate, go right onto the sandy path, walk for seven minutes until you reach the Heereweg. Cross the Heereweg and into the little road directly across. After one more minute: Guesthouse Het Ruiterhuys.

See under Beach.

A useful overview of the shops and addresses you might need, can be found under Tips in our Digital Concierge.

Everything
In the center of Castricum village, you find two streets, Torenstraat en Dorpsstraat, with many different stores. Among them Supermarket DekaMarkt, Torenstraat 48, 1901 EG Castricum.  

Organic Food
Ekoplaza, Torenstraat 34 1901EE Castricum + 31 (0) 251 654 916

Shopping Mall 
You also can find many stores at shopping mall Geesterduin in Castricum. Albert Heijn, liquor store, flowers, fishmonger, etc. Geesterduin 27/29 1902EJ Castricum.

Supermarket nearby
You can find a Dekamarkt Supermarket with decent selection, including liquor store, nearby in Egmond-Binnen. Open on Sundays and closes at 9:00 pm on weekdays. Abdijlaan 20 1935BH Egmond Binnen 072-5066468.

Cakes and pies
Patisserie De Roset, Burgemeester Mooijstraat 17, 1091EP Castricum, 0251-652386. 

Freshly baked bread

• Bakery Burgmeyer, Torenstraat 40a, 1901EE Castricum, 0251-652948; 
• Van Vessem, Dorpsstraat/Bakkerspleintje 56, 1901EN Castricum;
• Brakenhof, Burgemeester Mooijstraat 34, 1901ET Castricum

Home Delivery
Albert.nl also delivers to the Noorderstraat. You do have to be at home to pay for the delivery. Please note that this delivery service can only deliver at Zeeveld from the agreed start of the rental period.

Flowers and plants
For beautiful flowers and bouquets: Baltus, Heerenweg 25, 1935 AB Egmond-Binnen: 072 506 1488

Toilet paper is available.

A towel is included in the linen package. Also see under Linen package. Are you staying longer or planning to swim? Bring an extra (beach)towel.

Purchase Dune Access Tickets required
Anyone who wants to take a walk in the dunes must purchase an individual ticket. These day and week tickets can be purchased from the machine at the Noorderstraat car park.

You do not need a dune card only to walk from the parking lot to ZeeVELD.

Hiking trails
1. Fifty meters from ZeeVELD – walk out of the gate, turn left - at the information board on the corner of Noorderstraat, three marked walking routes start. They are respectively three, seven and seventeen kilometers long.

2. Three easy walks are also the unmarked routes that lead in an increasingly larger circle around 'het Zeeveld', each time a matter of: out of the gate, turn right, walk into the first wooden gate on your right and then make a right whenever you can. 

This way you walk around 'het Zeeveld' in about 20 minutes and get a completely different and beautiful view of the house.

You can extend this walk a bit by choosing the more western Kroftlaan instead of the path directly adjacent to 'het Zeeveld'. You then have a wide view of the dune area. This is a walk of around 30 minutes.

An even longer round opts for an even more western central part of the walk: the Staringweg. Nice view of the bird pond. A walk of of about 45 minutes.

It is recommended to bring a map; or else a phone so you can call if you get lost. Yes, that happens. All benches have numbers so you can easily be traced.

You find a map of the immediate vicinity here. On the right of the map, a little under the middle, you see a mark 'ZeeVELD'. 

Larger walking and cycling maps can be purchased at De Hoep visitor center of the dune reserve: Johannisweg 2, 1901 NX Castricum. Phone: 0251 661 066 (available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). See also: www.pwn.nl

There is a good WiFi-signal.

User name: Studio
Password: 17Studio17

You close and open the windows in the roof with the long metal stick you find in the studio - in some corner on the ground floor. Move the opening of the round fixture on the top over the silver horizontal silver bar on the window, walk a few steps back so you are NOT straight under the bar but at a 45° angle, then pull to open or push to close.

You use the same stick to open and close the sliding curtain attached to this window. But now you turn the open part of the grip at the top of the stick towards you to move it over the grip of the curtain. Again, set a few steps back for better handling.

You can manually set the window above the sleeping loft in a fixed position. See the picture underneath: at the right hand top, you see a small bar that you can move right and left. Move left to open, move right to move the bar into the hole. 

And to close the sliding curtain of the window above the sleeping loft please see the photo underneath.

A yogamat is available.

In case of cancellation, Natuurhuisje knows this cancellation policy.