winter delight

The garden of Villa Augustus this afternoon.

Nothing so soothing and peaceful, like the hush of fresh fallen snow.

In the Netherlands days with snow are quite rare nowadays and therefore we must enjoy it when it's there.

The layer of powder on the Italian garden, is making the shapes of the garden even more beautiful.

room seven

It has been an annual tradition since 2007 to stay overnight at Villa Augustus. How strange it may seem, it really feels like a 'mini break' after all those years, although I'm A in my hometown and B 'at work'.

This time we stayed in room 7 on the second floor of the water tower, with view on the vegetable garden and my favorite French terrace, entirely in autumn atmosphere with the luminous yellow mulberry trees.

No matter how many times I've been there already, I still think Villa Augustus is the coolest hotel in the Netherlands.

To make the 'tourist-in-my-own-town' feeling complete, we made a city walk through the historical city centre, visited the Dordrechts Museum and had coffee and chocolate cake at Het Magazijn. And on the way back to the water tower, I found my new party shoes at Rockin' Items just before closing time, to wear them straightaway during dinner at Augustus.

augustus in august

Thursday 23rd of August.

At work at Villa Augustus. The garden is always at its most beautiful in August.

It's the best harvest month and all flower fields are in bloom.

a night in the water tank

Last night we stayed in one of the water reservoir rooms of hotel Villa Augustus.
The Dordrecht water tower was the first with a flat-bottomed iron reservoir and is the last one remaining in the Netherlands.

This time we stayed on the fifth floor in a hotelroom on the original flat iron bottom of the reservoir, which is the most authentic part of the water tower, because this is where the water used to be. The bathrooms of the room is one floor below, in what used to be the leak trap for the reservoir, with a view across the vegetable garden.

It's an annual tradition to stay overnight at my workplace, which still feels like a 'mini break', how strange that may seem.

No matter how many times I've been there already, it remains a special place.