The Dutch go to the polls next week to elect the members of the 12 provincial councils. In case your local geography is not up to scratch, here’s a list of all 12. Drenthe, capital Assen Drenthe is a mainly rural province, with some industry around Assen and Emmen. It is also home to 53 of the Netherlands 54 hunebedden, or dolmens – megalithic tombs. Flevoland, capital Lelystad The newest province, created largely on post WWII land reclaimed from the... More >

You thought going shopping was a great way to practise your Dutch on the natives? Indeed it is. But here are a few key phrases you really do need to watch out for. Wil hij (of zij) misschien een plakje worst? If the butcher likes you, possibly because you have just paid a fortune for a piece of meat, and you have a child with you, he will ask ‘would he (or she) like a piece of sausage?’ They invariably... More >

The Dutch embassy in Washington has published this handy infographic, outlining all the ways Amsterdam and Washington are different. It’s a response to DC’s mayor’s assertion that decriminalising marijuana will not turn the city into, shock horror, something like the Dutch capital. The embassy even published a special website page highlighting the differences in drugs policy. The page concludes by pointing out that Americans are more likely to smoke weed than the Dutch. ‘The lifetime rate of marijuana consumption for... More >

Learning Dutch but bogged down in the grammar? Or are you a complete failure at the difference between de and het? Never fear, help is at hand. Here are six essential but untranslatable words and one gesture to help you sound like a native. Gezellig A gezel was an apprentice in medieval times and we still use the word levensgezel for someone who accompanies you on the journey of life, in other words your better half. Conviviality, the Dickensian kind,... More >

It would be very easy to be snotty about Dutch food and talk about snack bars, chicken with apple puree and the ubiquitous ‘ovenschotel’.  We could go on and on about boiled chicory with ham and cheese sauce and meatballs with green beans and potatoes – served at 6pm sharp. But we won’t be doing any of that. We have a sneaking appreciation for some traditional Dutch recipes – especially those guaranteed to get you through the cold winters. Here... More >

The Dutch are an inventive lot. Among their clever ideas in the past: the stock exchange, the submarine, the fire pump and the speed camera. Here’s a list of other nifty ideas we wish we had come up with. 2theloo A chain of public conveniences. Corny name but business is booming. 2theloo started out in an empty shop in Amsterdam’s Kalverstraat and now operates WCs in 13 different countries worldwide and has 14 million customers a year. The key to... More >

On February 27 2015, TEDxDelft returns with a new and bigger event, featuring an impressive line-up of speakers and inspiring stories.  The event will take place from 14.00 until 22.00 at the Aula Conference Centre in Delft. This year’s theme, ‘Let’s make things beta!’, is all about remembering that every great idea was once raw and imperfect, and had to be refined in order to make it what it is today. Technology, entertainment and design are what TED is all about. In... More >

There is more to Dutch cheese than the plastic versions of Gouda and Edam you tend to find in foreign or even some Dutch supermarkets. Here are some of our favourites, and hard cheese if we’ve missed yours out. Dutch hard cheese, by the way, is either jong (young, 4 weeks), jong-belegen (young-mature 8-10 weeks), belegen (mature, 16-18 weeks), extra belegen (extra mature, 7 -8 months), oud (old, 10-12 months) or overjarig (very old, more than 18 months). 1. Leidse... More >

If you believe the tourist industry and tabloid newspaper approach to the Netherlands, we all race around on our bikes in clogs, eating cheese, smoking weed and killing off our old folk. Yes, there are lot of myths about the Netherlands and the Dutch. Here’s 10 – debunked. Tulips come from Amsterdam It’s spring again, I’ll bring again, tulips from Amsterdam. But did tulips originate in Amsterdam, or even the Netherlands? No, they didn’t. The tulip (Tulipa) was originally a... More >

Most of us know how the Netherlands made its riches in the Dutch golden age – thanks to its strength as a trading nation – but hundreds of years later a new trading narrative seems to have grown out of the embers of that legacy – fair trade – writes Cathy Leung. Simply put, fair trade is a system of producing and selling goods that ensures the people selling them receive a fair price. During the 1940s to 1960s, mostly... More >

In the 17th century, when the English and the Dutch were trying to lord it over the rest of the world, the English tried to smear the competition by prefixing anything cowardly, fake or otherwise worthy of disdain with ‘Dutch’. Some of these expressions are still around and have taken on additional meanings. Here are 10 of them. Double Dutch is not only gobbledegook, or gibberish, it is also a rope skipping game played by two people turning two long ropes... More >

The Netherlands has some 300 castles and fortified palaces, dating from medieval times to the 20th century.  From five-foot-thick defence walls for protection against the enemy to lavish palaces to house the elite, Erin Wille picks out a few of the best. De Haar The Rothschild family funded a 20-year neo-gothic restoration project for De Haar, one of the most luxurious castles in Europe, and the largest in the Netherlands. Surrounding the castle, 7,000 40-year old trees transported from the... More >

Ever wandered what it would look like flying over the Netherlands at midnight on New Year’s Eve? Re-live the New Year festivities with this drone’s eye view of the firework frenzy in Enschede.   More >