Ultimate enjoyment at Boerderij de Grote Liefde

Farm de Grote Liefde is a place that Philip Lamers and Lotte Bronsveld have transformed into something you would prefer never to leave. And we know this from personal experience, because we have been there ourselves. It is grand, beautiful and equipped with every luxury and convenience. Including a Tønsauna and no less than two Ducktubs in the garden.

Buying without looking: this is how Farm the Big Love came into being

After a stay in France, Philip and Lotte thought, how nice is it to have a second place to unwind? And preferably not a 16-hour drive there and back, but within 1.5 hours of Amsterdam. They set to work on that. "Then came the requirements: then we want a farmhouse with a thatched roof, by the water, no N-road hear, with a village nearby but not that you are surrounded by houses. Just a really chill place. Well then actually 99.99% of the accommodations fall off." 

After six months, this farm came into Philip's path. "The farm was in a little bit of disrepair at the time, was wood-together, but I fell in love with the place right away. Lot hadn't even seen the place then, but I said right away this is what we have to do. Buying without looking was it, she said: if you believe it, I believe it too. So then we made an offer and that's how it came about." 

"From there we started looking; we are not always there, so how are we going to make sure that more people can enjoy this and the farm can also be used for business. Even now, we are still in Amsterdam a lot and sometimes on vacation, so we regularly receive guests staying in the house."

"There is room for up to 16 people and we see that mostly families, business partners or groups of friends come and enjoy our farmhouse and therefore the hot tubs and sauna we have."

The whole picture 

In addition to the farm, Philip also runs a hotel in Hilversum and thus has some experience in the industry. "You notice that when people go looking for accommodation they often also search specifically for wellness. At the farm we wanted everything to be absolutely perfect. Actually so that if you tick all possible options, we still come up." Well Lotte and Philip succeeded very well, the farmhouse is literally equipped with all conveniences and in a prime location.

Complete wellness garden for relaxing 

At Farm the Great Love you can enjoy yourself in a Tønsauna 330 and no less than 2 Ducktubs External. "Initially we wanted a sauna, hot tub and swimming pool in the garden, but because we are located on the Dokkumer Ee, we didn't think a swimming pool was quite appropriate after all. We did want to create something where you can all bubble and chill together. You don't really do that in a sauna, so that's why we opted for two hot tubs, so that everyone can basically go there at the same time." 

In retrospect, Philip and Lotte would also have liked the Ducktub Furo, which holds 12 people, but there are also advantages to having two smaller ones. "The three of us are also regularly at home and if some friends come over, we don't need such a big one and we don't have to heat as much water."

Electric, hybrid or still wood-fired? 

The two hot tubs at the farm are fully electric. "We chose this so you can just go in them whenever you want and you don't have to think about it far in advance. But if we were to do it all over again now, we would choose hybrid hot tubs. Then you can choose which way you want to heat the water and, for example, you can first use the wood stove to heat the water and then keep it electrically warm. That's obviously a little more interesting with today's energy prices."

"Having experienced it this way, I think it's best to choose wood-fired if you don't plan to use the hot tub more often than once a week. Hybrid I think is the best option if you use it more often and want to avoid the electric heating costs. I would choose electric if you have solar panels in your house and can provide electricity that way. After all, it does add to the cost." 

The Tønsauna is also electric, and even though it is of course a bigger power source, it is not very bad in terms of consumption, Philip points out. "The sauna only needs to be on for a very short time to get it up to temperature. You can also easily specify with the timer that it should always go off within an hour or two."

All guests enjoy the wellness to the fullest 

"The sauna and the hot tub are both actually always used by our guests. You can see that during the day the hot tub is often used and the sauna is mostly used in the evening. We can see this on the electricity meter we have attached to it." 

- We can say from our own experience that this place is even more magical during sunset. In fact, we went there last year for a shoot of our products. And we can assure you, it's worth setting your alarm clock and enjoying this view (see the photos 🌄).

Get in and enjoy

"When guests come we always do it so that one of the hot tubs is really ready to go in, so it's always at 38 °C. We then leave the other one on about 26 °C. Of course, they're not always both used, so then the second one doesn't need to have a high temperature unnecessarily, but they can take care of this themselves."

"Guests always handle the products very well. The sauna always puts them out nicely. The advantage is that guests don't have to do that much. They turn on the sauna or hot tub and get in. They don't have to clean it themselves or anything like that."

"One thing we do have to deal with is that both we and the guests often also go swimming in the Dokkumer Ee and then bring algae via their swimwear into the hot tub. So after use the water sometimes turns green. We have a filter system and then add some extra chlorine to get the water clean again."

Great love for wellness 💘

"We get a lot of positive feedback from our guests. It is often the total experience; that they have enjoyed sitting in the hot tub with a glass of champagne for example. They always think it is very beautiful, we regularly get pictures sent to us. The fact that it is always used also says a lot I think."

Also adding wellness to your accommodation? Philip and Lotte have these tips for you

"Not everyone goes in the hot tub. So if, like us, you have a house for 16 people, then a hot tub for 12 people, for example, is big enough. And as I mentioned before; look at what you have. If you have a lot of solar panels, then I would opt for an all-electric hot tub. If you don't have those or they are already being utilized for the house, then choose hybrid or wood-fired." 

Besides making business sense, Lotte also offers a good tip if you are a regular homebody yourself: look at what you enjoy yourself. "We really enjoy the hot tub and sauna ourselves. So in addition to business, it's also good to look at it personally." We couldn't agree more!

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