Geese! This was a petting zoo of sorts. They had geese, chickens, goats, and some other varieties…read moreof birds for kids to look at and walk around with. The small sand playground was great for our toddler. They had a very cool fire truck playscape with a slide. The park had comunal toys such as bikes, wheelbarrows, plastic ice cream cones, and shovels. There was one side lined in benches for parents to sit and watch the little ones run around. We didn't see any hours listed, so they kindly asked us to leave when they closed at 5:00 pm. I'm not sure what time they open.

Really cool petting zoo and good-size park full of exciting outdoor activities, both physical and…read moreeducational. Access costs 7.50 euro for both adults and kids (under 2 years old is free) but if you live nearby a season ticket makes much more sense as it's cheaper after only 3 visits. There are obstacle courses (including one above shallow water), slides, swings, and boats to spend time on the lake. On the nature side, you can watch and pet a range of animals, there are beehives and an "insect hotel", and there are educational displays to learn about different plants. I found it closed a bit early (6 PM during summer time) while it won't get dark till much later. Still I'd highly recommend this place.

I recently found out about this farm, and not having seen many big-size farms in the Netherlands…read morebefore, decided to combine a visit to their open farm day with a separate dinner that was being organized here one fine Saturday evening. The experience was somewhat surreal! If you are looking for a day trip outside the big city and into nature's arms, this is your spot. Easily accessible by public transport, De Marsen is about an hour's trip from Amsterdam's central station. You take a bus all the way to Landsmeer and then walk about 15 minutes through a beautiful flat landscape and across a stream to arrive at the farm. The farm is open to all and they do arrange tours every now and then. Being off season for most crops and also because the farm recently switched management, there wasn't much to see in terms of animals or plantations, but they had a donkey, a chicken coup, some goats, and a pig farm where their legendary pig, named 'Uh-oh' lives. Along the tour, the new head farmer remarked how the huge pig has its own fan-following with people coming to see it regularly. Walking through the coup was quite awesome. The animals were enjoying. We took some time off to walk around the surroundings, which were really quiet and serene. I will go back, I liked it so much. We stayed until about 10PM after socializing with a lot of people we met on the farm. It was a great evening with a bonfire, spotting a hedgehog, and playing with the farm kittens. Netherlands is more than windmills and cheese. It has a lot of flat open space where people still farm their food!