The Guardian

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The Guardian {Travel}

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The Rijksmuseum

UK Saturday 3, May 2014 6 759 sq. cm ABC 193228 Daily page rate £11,400.00, scc rate £42.00 020 3353 2000

CityFamily

Dam near perfect Canals, bikes, pancakes …

Amsterdam is ideal for family fun, says Kate Carter – especially if you stay in a stylish home full of other kids’ toys

M

ost parents of small children will know that holidays with the kids aren’t really holidays; they are just childcare with a better view. Squashing three, four or five people into one hotel room, where each snore or cry wakes everyone else, can make going away more exhausting than being at home.

And, until recently, if you wanted an affordable spot that was as comfortable as home, or had an ounce of style, you could forget about it. But times are changing, with the arrival of outfits such as Baby-Friendly Boltholes, with its mix of well-equipped rental cottages, farm stays and villas, and a collection of family-friendly hotels from romantic-getaway specialist Mr & Mrs Smith.

Another recent arrival offers a more novel approach – short stays in real family homes. Kid & Coe is the brainchild of Zoie Kingsbery Coe, wife of a hard-travelling DJ, who set it up last year when she realised standard hotel accommodation was ill-suited for family life, and couldn’t find a holiday rental that had all the baby kit her family needed. The

result is a collection of 300 homes in 68 destinations, from Cornwall to the Galapagos, with minimum stays of between one and seven nights, depending on location.

And these are not just any old homes: these allow you to live like a rather affluent native, with designer furniture, kitchens equipped with mini cutlery, and bedrooms/playrooms filled with toys. Listings on the company’s website include information on everything from high chairs to laundry, but if you want more details before booking, you can contact the host via the site’s messaging service.

Each booking then unlocks Kid & Coe’s own travel guide, City Scout, with recommendations of where to shop, play and eat. Compiled by local families and owners, it’s a personal black book of suggestions and advice.

Being keen on cycling, art and on a location reachable by train, we chose Amsterdam, and stayed in a beautiful wooden-floored property on Wouwermanstraat, a few minutes’ walk, even at toddler pace, from the Rijksmuseum and leafy Vondelpark.

That said, the array of toys in the basement playroom – and there are no toys better than the toys of another child – meant it was sometimes hard to drag our two out. The five-year-

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The Guardian {Travel}

Keyword:

The Rijksmuseum

UK Saturday 3, May 2014 6 759 sq. cm ABC 193228 Daily page rate £11,400.00, scc rate £42.00 020 3353 2000

old was glued to the indoor swing, a design extravagence made all the more indulgent by the lengthy diversions it allowed for us to relax in the stylish living room.

The owners had left not only a couple of city guides, but a handdrawn map of the cafe-rich local area, Amsterdam-Zuid, picking out their own favourite things to do and eat: apple pie and playgrounds featured heavily. They’d also left a note on the well-stocked fridge telling us to help ourselves. Given that the property has two king-size beds, two cots and a child’s bed, two families could easily stay here easily and split the (admittedly hefty) cost. Along with their iBook, the owners also provided details of trustworthy babysitters, and responded instantly to a query about vegetarian restaurants nearby.

They also left us the use of their cargo bike. Cyclists, of course, rule in Amsterdam, and a new cycle lane runs through the middle of the Rijksmuseum. Rembrandt’s The Night Watch had a helpfully soporific effect on the toddler, and the other galleries there – particularly the 17th-century dolls’ houses – held our five-year-old’s interest for a while, as did the Stedelijk modern art museum.

Amsterdam also provides the perfect diet for a growing child. Perfect, that is, if your ideal meal consists solely of carbohydrates: the Pancake Bakery has a menu whose size (79 varieties!) is only matched by that of the pancakes themselves. And as for that apple cake – our hosts directed us to Winkels, near the Central Station. The mere memory of it has me drooling now.

As always with family holidays, there was a certain amount of nostalgia for past activities: lingering in art galleries rather than sprinting through them, an afternoon drink,

on five years’ of holidays since two became three, then four, this was an infinitely more relaxing experience than any previous trips.

• Accommodation was provided by Kid and Coe (+ 1 212 905 6065, kidandcoe. com). The Wouwermanstraat house costs from €330 a night, plus a €50 cleaning fee (two-night minimum stay), but properties in Amsterdam start from €198 a night for a home sleeping five adults and two children, and homes elsewhere in Europe from €72 a night. Train travel was provided by Eurostar and Thalys (08432 186 186, eurostar.com), which has fares from London to Amsterdam via Brussels from £99 return. More information from holland.com

a browse of the tempting-looking independent fashion shops. We probably also left the five-year-old with some very confused ideas about the herbs sold by those funny-smelling shops and cafes. But looking back

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The Guardian {Travel}

Keyword:

The Rijksmuseum

UK Saturday 3, May 2014 6 759 sq. cm ABC 193228 Daily page rate £11,400.00, scc rate £42.00 020 3353 2000

Family affair ... (clockwise from top) living room, child’s bedroom and exterior of Wouwermanstraat house; Kate’s children playing in the Stedelijk Museum

Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd.

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The Guardian {Travel}

Keyword:

The Rijksmuseum

UK Saturday 3, May 2014 6 759 sq. cm ABC 193228 Daily page rate ÂŁ11,400.00, scc rate ÂŁ42.00 020 3353 2000

Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd.

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