By Anne Brugts, Content Manager Story Terrace
The grass can be mown tomorrow
What sort of holiday mood affects the people who make our holidays happen for us? Campsite owner Hemke Veenstra allows us a view from behind the scenes at his French property ‘Domaine Les Mirabelles’.
When I speak to Hemke Veenstra, he’s at the end of his workday. Although – can you call it work? Building, mowing and maintenance work doesn’t feel like work to Veenstra: ‘Doing the jobs at the campsite is like a holiday to me. I’ll be busy all day long, but it doesn’t feel like an obligation.’ 
Anyone who runs a campsite in the midst of French countryside will face surprises every day. This morning, for instance, there was a fuss about a pipe in the water pump that looked rusty. ‘The local French water pump service came and after a thorough inspection it turned out to be a snake.’ French bureaucracy will furthermore guarantee that no two days ever feel the same on the campsite. ‘When we had just opened the site, the gendarmerie would come by once every three days to collect the police notes. Those notes recorded our guests’ data so they could be scanned against possible criminal records. The collecting stopped after a while: by the time they had finished analysing the data, the guests would have long since moved on to their next destination.’
From a cafeteria in a boat store to a campsite in France
Veenstra has always been in the hotel and restaurant business. ‘When I was seventeen, my brother and I started selling sodas from a campervan. After that, I used to run a cafeteria in my parents’ boat storage facility. During the winter there would be boats there, but in summer the place would be mine.’ His catering business developed and in the eighties Veenstra became the owner of a hotel in the northern Dutch region of Friesland.
Owning a campsite was never on his wish list, though. This came about by accident. ‘In the summer of 1996 one of my sons asked me if I was interested in going camping with him during his holiday. The answer to such a question has to be “yes”, of course. My wife, with whom I owned the hotel, enlisted help from within her family, and just like that I found I had a week off! We set off for the French Vosges district, where we more or less by accident ended up in the village of They-sous-Montfort on a small, out-dated but charming farm campsite. The fields were full of plum trees and my son and I set up our tent in the valley next to a small river. We enjoyed ourselves very much.’
They hoped to repeat the experience next year. To their great amazement, when they arrived at the campsite it appeared to be closed. ‘It was July 1997, the high season! Of course we got in touch with the owner and we found him some assistance in the form of a Dutch student of French, who was willing to translate for guests who were unfamiliar with the French language. The year after, we put in some investment to make the business more profitable. Among other things, we built log cabins for guests who wanted more comfortable accommodation.’
Camping anecdotes
Most guests are nature lovers and tranquillity seekers, just like Veenstra and his wife. Together they enjoy the little pleasures that camping life offers. The couple are often invited for a drink outside a guest’s tent. During these gatherings it frequently happens that camping anecdotes, collected over the years, will come up. ‘One of those memorable situations is the story of the Beach of They. On a certain afternoon, a lovely lady came to reception asking for directions to the beach. My wife and I looked at each other, thinking the lady must be a lunatic. Nowhere in the distant reaches of the Vosges area is a beach to be found, as the nearest bit of sea is more than 200 miles away.’
‘The local clay pigeon shooting club had in her imagination become a beach’
The lady claimed strongly that a beach was definitely indicated at the entrance of the village. ‘Then something dawned on us. Just after entering the village there is a signpost saying “Stand de Tir”. The lady hadn’t read it properly and the local clay pigeon shooting club had in her imagination become a lively strand near They-sous-Montfort. She didn’t give in and we wished her good luck in her search for the beach.’
Holiday mood
The couple do sometimes spend their holiday away from the campsite, but it’s not easy to relax in someone else’s establishment. ‘I always notice everything, even the little things. When something isn’t as good as it should be, I’ll notify the staff. In a constructive way, that is.’ The place where Veenstra finds himself in the best holiday mood is on his own campsite. ‘In the morning I will, just like the guests, wait for the baker to drive onto the site with freshly baked croissants. There is no strain or stress: the grass can be mown tomorrow.’
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About us: Story Terrace helps customers to capture personal stories in beautiful books alongside a professional writer. Our writers have a range of backgrounds and interests, sharing one passion: Portraying individuals through carefully crafted anecdotes and lively stories.
This month we celebrate holiday memories. Also see our article about Capri Holiday Memories. What’s your most treasured holiday memory?
