Feather Down

Hoeve Waterschap

Escape to a simpler life with Crista en Gert

Discover Hoeve Waterschap in Echtenerbrug, Friesland. Gert, Crista and their children live on this organic farm. Together, they ensure that the endangered Friesian Red and White cows can grow up peacefully on their meadows. What makes it extra special is the fact that the calves always graze on the meadow with their mothers! You can look out over the meadow from your tent, greet the cows while you are having breakfast or walk to the lake in between the cows!

Friesland Waterland

Rent one of the electric sloops at Hoeve Waterschap and sail to the Frisian lakes. Grab a canoe or go for a swim, fish, windsurf or paddle board, it's all possible here! Also fun is going on a kayak excursion with the forest ranger or go swimming in the swimming pool. Visit Kameleondorp, Boer Bart play farm or the Orchideeënhoeve. Feel like a city break? Lemmer, Sneek and Hindelopen are worth a visit. If you have any time left, don't forget to take a nice walk through the Rottige Meente.

What to do on Hoeve Waterschap

Crazy about horses? You can brush the ponies and the real enthusiasts can ride around on Janneke the horse. Play with the goats, dive into the straw bales in the old cow barn, build a hut, swing, swing with the rope and don't forget to pole jump! In the spring you'll see flower strips on the farm for insects and a high water level for birds, both to increase the biodiversity of the area. Book a hot tub next to your tent and enjoy the panoramic view and the cows grazing. Order fresh apple pies from Crista or get a Frisian Us Heit beer from the honesty shop! Cook on the wood stove, shower by candlelight and sleep in comfy beds. There is only pure enjoyment in this Frisian landscape.

What can you expect?

Dogs allowed
Honesty shop
Pizza oven
Order bread
Order apple pie

What animals will you find on this farm?

You too?

What our guests like

Play stable
Weddings possible
Close to the beach
Wetland area
Walk between the cows
Direct access to the water, rent a canoe or a boat

Our canvas hideaways

Hot tub bookable

Canvas hideaway with farm-house shower

6 persons

Hot tub bookable

Canvas hideaway with private outdoor shower

6 persons

Hot tub bookable

Canvas hideaway with en-suite shower

6 persons

A unique experience

Back to basics

Live in nature

Have adventures together

Including wood for the wood-burning stove
Including welcome package with bed-linen, towels, candles, matches, washing-up liquid and other basic items

One of the world's best family holidays

Highlight

Pizza Night

The farmer will usually fire up the pizza oven during your stay. Everyone gathers round to tell their stories of the day’s adventures and invent pizza toppings you’ll never find on the high street

Highlight

Ask the Farmer

The farm tour is a must if it’s on offer. But you don’t wait till then. The farmer will be delighted to tell you more about how what goes on at the farm at any time.

Highlight

The Farm Shop

It’s great for the basics and usually even better for local produce and low food miles. And every Feather Down farm shop operates on an honesty basis.

Options during your stay

Breakfast basket 4P

The breakfast basket (enough for 4 people) consists of bread and various types of spreads, including cheese and homemade jam. You also get coffee, tea, and more goodies. Exact content may differ slightly per farm.

Pets

Recommended!

Bring your dog along. A maximum of 2 well-behaved dogs per canvas hideaway. The price is per dog, per stay.

Please note: You are required to keep your dog on a leash while on the campsite.

Adult Bicycle Rent

Explore the farm and its beautiful surroundings on two wheels! The farmers can advise on wonderful trails of varying degrees of difficulty. Select below how many bicycles you would want to rent per day.

Hot Tub Mobile Waterschap

You hire the Farmers Hot Tub. The Farmers Hot Tub is close to your tent.

Meet your hosts

Crista and Gert

Together with our children Sanne, Femke and Jente, we are the 3rd generation at this magnificent farmhouse that dates from the year 1850. We hope to see you soon on our adventurous farm!

We do our best to increase biodiversity. For example, we have a high water level for birds and flower strips for bees.

Nearby

Tjeukemeer

Friesland Waterland: ga windsurfen, suppen of bootje varen.

Rottige Meente

Ga op kajakexcursie met de boswachter of maak een mooie wandeling door dit natuurreservaat.

Kameleondorp

Beleef fantastische avonturen.

De Weerribben

Ontdek de natuur in dit Nationaal Park.

Subtropisch zwembad Joure

Een dag vol waterpret.

Lemmer, Sneek en Hindelopen

Leuke stadjes om gezellig te bezoeken en op het terras te gaan zitten.

Leeuwarden

Als je wilt shoppen, De Oldenhove toren wilt beklimmen of een bezoek wilt brengen aan het Natuurmuseum Fryslân.

De Orchideeënhoeve

Een vlindertuin, alpaca’s en een binnenspeeltuin.

What do our guests think?

Average rating

9.3

Mrs Cline

12/06/2020

Our family (kids 7,9,11) loved staying at the farm. The set up was perfect, beds were amazing. No electricity and WiFi were just enough to “rough it” for us! The use of free kayaks and ability to rent the electric boats was unexpected and made the trip even better. Pizza and homemade apple cakes were perfect. Plenty for kids to play with around the farm, owners were nice and accommodating.

Mrs Schager

05/07/2019

Hoeve Waterschap is a super place for spending some days with Children. A lot of things to see and do. A lot of friendly goats, rabbits, chicken, sheeps, cows and horses/ponies and Bykke the dog to play with and even an owl in the barn. A great playground with an outdoor kids kitchen, lots of Go-karts and a treehouse are waiting for kids to be explored. The view from the tent and also hot tub is stunning seeing cows, rabbits, birds and sheep all together. Crista and Geert are so nice and welcoming hosts.They have created a little paradise for kids and their parents. We enjoyed every minute and will definitely come back!!

Mrs Obrien

07/08/2017

Different from our us usual holidays

8.8

Mrs James

31/07/2017

"The Best holiday ever" - these are the words my 10 year old daughter used to describe it! We booked a Monday to Friday visit to this lovely farm and wished we had booked a week or even two. The host family were very generous with their time and let you help out as much as you liked. We hand fed the calves and lambs with milk, and fed the goats, cows and sheep. Both my son (aged 12), daughter, and I spent lots of time with the rabbits too! We had a tent with a hot tub and shower and it was quite private with views over the fields with cows staring at us much of the time. The Canoes were just a short walk over the sheep or cow field and we also hired bikes and went into the village nearby for ice cream. The Pizza evening was fun and Gert and Crista provided drinks and toppings for everyone and cook the pizza for you. We ordered a farmers stew to cook one evening and all the ingredients were brought to our tent and we cooked outside on a fire and it was delicious. Had the farm not been fully booked we would have stayed a few days longer.

Mrs. Everson

08/08/2016

Relaxing, family-friendly

Mevr. Sample

11/04/2014

We had a wonderful stay. This is our 6th Featherdown Farm holiday, 3rd in Holland. The farmer (his father) and the farmer's wife made all the difference. They were very generous with their precious time, very interesting and informative and had an excellent sense of humour. Pizza day was really well done. Lovely fresh ingredients for us to top our pizzas before Gert cooked them in the Bread Oven. The salads, accompaniments and drinks prepared by Crista all looked first class and really hit the spot. Our boys enjoyed being able to cycle to the neighbouring village for ice creams and going out in the canoes. The new football nets were appreciated too.