Spring is in the air!
ZoWad is looking radiant. The lambs are still very small and hopping in the meadow and on the dyke. Daffodils and snowdrops have finished flowering and are making way for the tulip fields. The kite surfers and catamarans are reappearing, the seals have returned to their sandbank.
Our guests (and us) are lucky: it has been a particularly beautiful spring so far. With abundant sunshine and clear icy blue skies. Texel is getting ready for the season: the jetty for the boat to Vlieland has been laid again. The beach houses are returning. Farm campsites reopen and guests enjoy the sun on the terraces. Spoonbills, hares and pheasants fly and run past: nature is abundant here!
We are in full swing again, having renewed the fence along the ditch, and the floor of the Molenhuisje which had to be re-laid because of the water level on Texel (high), now with an extra moisture-resistant underlay. That's all new and smooth again. We have also replaced the table and chairs on the deck and the dining table chairs, and everything inside has been painted: the house is back to its Easter best!
In terms of food and drink, we rediscovered Paal 15: great food on the beach. And restaurant Floris at the end of 'our street' really comes highly recommended: nice atmosphere, modern restaurant with a cosy terrace where bands play every Sunday in summer. We also hear good things about De Taveerne in De Koog and, of course, De Smulpot in the heart of Den Burg, a place where Tesselaars also like to come, as in the 12 Balcken, the 'village inn'. Surprise for us is Witlof, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that cooks really well, also in Den Burg. Kaasboerderij Wezenspyk now has a shop/restaurant in Den Burg, and the Hema has expanded its dining area: good breakfast, lunch and cup of coffee for little ;-)! They also have a food truck that will be used at various events.
The new PLUS supermarket in Oosterend, with basic groceries, opens soon (village initiative), and the new Eilandhotel (nearby) has also opened its doors, with a good restaurant and a nice wellness. The old lock near our house has been restored and you can walk over the little dike to the Wadden Sea again, thankfully: we missed that a lot last winter.Â
This is also how the east of Texel is progressing, without affecting the peace and space that there is here. Here you can still enjoy silence, nature, sea, wind :-), wide views: also of the stars: you really feel like a (tiny) part of the universe here.
We wish you a sunny spring and who knows, a warm summer!
Island greetings from ZoWadÂ