The hotel Kasteel Bloemendal (Kasteel = castle) is not a real castle but more a large mansion. There is a gate and after you pass this you will see the hotel in front of you, to your right there are parking lots. It has a beautiful hall with the reception. Service is however poor, when we walked in we had to wait for about 10 minutes because two employees were discussing over a bottle of wine. After that we were greeted with “he, hallo”, not the type of communication you expect in such surroundings.

We had booked a suite and this was very nice. It had two rooms, a living room and a bedroom. Because it is an old building there were high ceilings, about 4-5 meters. The room is furnished with all kinds of antiques. Unfortunately, so was the small TV, very old, it was not even possible to switches channels with the remote! The bedroom is very romantic, with a lovely bed with all kinds of draperies. The bathroom had separate bad and shower, although the latter was very small, I felt cramped inside.

We had diner in the restaurant, stunning place with fresh flowers everywhere. The 4-course diner was though disappointing, rather well but dull and boring. In such a setting you think that the brigade will do every effort to earn a Michelin star, not cooking average diners with no real taste ‘explosions’.

With the booking, upon arrival and other moments we notified the staff that we were there for a special occasion. They did nothing with this information, that was also a real displeasure. All those lost chances in what could be a magnificent hotel.