A second post on our recent weekend break to Holland is about Palace Soestdijk, a former palace of the Dutch royal family. The palace is situated 20 minutes north of Utrecht, in the municipality of Baarn.

In the 17th century a country house was built between the municipalities of Soest and Baarn. It was sold to William III, who later became King of England, and it was then a hunting lodge.

At the end of the 18th century the hunting lodge briefly became a French base, but after the French Revolution, the crown prince of Holland was rewarded this  hunting lodge for his services in the Battle of Waterloo. The crown prince, who later became King Willem II of Holland, and his Russian wife, transformed this hunting lodge into a summer palace. After his death, the royal family kept on using it as a summer retreat.

In 1937 crown princess Juliana and her husband prins Bernhard moved in. During the second world war, the royal family moved to England and the palace was used by the German military. After liberation, the royal family returned. Juliana and Bernhard kept on living in Soestdijk until their deaths in 2004.

We really enjoyed our visit of the palace. It is light and airy and is filled with art and memorabilia of the royal family. I also like how there are a lot of photographs on show. You can really see how the family enjoyed living in this palace.

The palace also has beautiful grounds. You can visit the palace and gardens and you can also follow a guided tour. On the website you can find all the information needed. We just strolled around the garden, walked around the lake and enjoyed lunch on the outside terrace of the restaurant.

We like visiting palaces and gardens, but another reason for our visit to Palace Soestdijk was the Wine, Art & Jazz Festival.  I love wine, I love art and I love jazz… so this was the perfect opportunity for me to have these three combined in a beautiful setting!

In  the gardens, there was live jazz, food trucks, wine bars,… the weather was ab fab and so was our afternoon!!!

I can honestly say, that this day was a day filled with enjoyment and I’ve got such sweet memories of it… I hope you can see that in the photos I include in this post.