The camping season is over and the children are back at school, with a week of autumn holidays as a welcome break. Perhaps you are taking them into the woods to look for mushrooms, an amusement park is on the programme, or you have other plans. Going camping' is probably not one of them, because apart from the camp sites with mostly regular guests, most seasonal camp sites are already closed.

A pity, actually, because with the autumn colours Drenthe is perhaps at its most beautiful. But camping in cold and wet autumn weather is far from ideal, so we closed the gates at the end of September. That does not mean that we are sitting still. We use this period for major maintenance, so that when we open on 1 April, our campsite will be spick and span again.

A child-friendly campsite is a safe campsite

Everything will get a makeover: the grounds, the sanitary facilities, our hiker's huts, chalets and all other facilities. We pay extra attention to the children's play facilities, such as the indoor and outdoor playground. We subject all equipment to a strict inspection to be one hundred percent sure that everything is safe. After all, a child-friendly campsite must first and foremost be a safe campsite.

Meanwhile, we are already thinking about our leisure programmes for the coming season. We know how fond children are of them and we saw them enjoying fun themes such as dinosaur week and fairy tale week last summer. We are once again doing our utmost to put together a fine recreation team that plays a key role in the success of the activities each year.

What children think is cool

As a child-friendly campsite, we always ask ourselves what today's children like about camping. We tailor our activities to this in the best possible way. It is precisely during these joint recreational activities that children easily make friends 'for life'. That is still one of the biggest 'attractions' that children experience while camping.

Because children at a child-friendly camp site are in a safe, protected and well-controlled environment, they can go out on their own with their new friends. To romp around, to have adventures. That's cool. And it's not bad for the parents either, of course. They have their hands free to relax, without worrying.

On a child-friendly campsite, even doing the washing up is fun'.

A mother who had just discovered camping with her children wrote on her lifestyle blog: 'At a campsite, my children don't need anything to enjoy themselves. They're outside all day, weather or no weather. They romp around, they discover everything and they share their adventures with friends. They even like to help with the washing up!

When we read that, it gives us extra motivation to make sure that everything is spick and span and safe again in March. So that in the summer season you can once again come to hospitable Drenthe to enjoy a relaxing camping holiday with the children.