First, some "thank-you" messages:
to Renee, for the great tip that we talk to the Wilhelmina Kinderziekenhuis (children's hospital) and let them know that we could host families if the Ronald MacDonald house is full. "Our" house is just a few minutes drive away from the hospital.
Norm: how interesting that you know the house from your childhood! Yes, we'd love to have copies of photos and info from the book you mentioned about Bunnik.
Manfred: great that you are willing to "spread the word." Yes, I think the networks from our Utrecht Ondernemers Academy will help us a lot.
Leslie: thanks for the encouragement and your own update and hope we can get together this week!
Wendy: you asked how the owners reacted when we asked if it would be possible to rent for a year or two...
I'll begin there. On Thursday, March 5, we had our second tour of the house and spoke with both owners. They said that they would naturally prefer to sell the house than rent it, and that they thought it would be a pity for us to pay a high rent to them without being able to call the place our own -- but, that they didn't really need all the money at once and they would be willing to consider alternatives. For example, splitting the house into two parts, on paper, and selling us half, if we could get a mortgage for that much, and renting us the other half for a few years. In any case, it seems that they like us and our plans, and we like them and their house, and we are all willing to be flexible. Just as long as they get their money eventually and we don't get in over our heads -- we all agreed that we need to be practical and give it up if it starts to look too difficult.
On Friday, March 6, we went to visit a woman who has a similar set-up in Baarn: an old house that she remodeled and uses for her practice and rents out to others. She said she had some ideas and could probably help us. (She didn't say that she would be sending us a bill for 178 Euro's afterwards. Her website did mention somewhere in very fine print that she gives consultations to businesses for 75 Euro -- I guess I should have asked explicitly, is that per hour or per session, inclusive or exclusive tax?) So, that left a bitter taste. Most of her advice was not something I would have paid for (like what colors to paint the walls and stuff -- that part we can handle.) I wanted to know about financing and reasonable expectations for how in demand our rental rooms would be. But anyway. We did get a little information on those points: meeting rooms are very much in demand (she says -- no specific numbers) and she has a feeling that we could get a mortgage if we could put a lot of money in a sort of deposit account -- what I described in my first letter to everyone. My intuition is that this one little piece of information was what we needed to get from her. I suppose, if it works out, those 5 minutes were worth the 178 Euro.
On Sunday, March 8, we went to an art exposition at "Concordia" in Utrecht and talked to quite a few artists. I collected business cards and contact info for the ones we liked the most, so we can invite them later to display artwork at our place, or give classes, or whatever. I like the idea of having art (and music) be part of our project.
On Monday, March 9, I met with our "loopbaan" group and shared my enthusiasm over all the developments. The others reminded me how much I've changed since I started going to those meetings. It was hard to remember. But yes, it is true: I'm focused much more these days on the statement sitting on a postcard in front of my computer screen: "Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams." It is exciting and fun to research all the possibilities. Even as we open the mail to find a parking ticket, which we won't be able to pay until Paulus collects the money owed to him from his last handiman job. Crazy, thinking about buying a 2 million Euro house when you don't have 50 Euro in the bank.
I wrote the letter that is the second entry in this blog.
On Wednesday, March 10, I finally had a whole day free to go off researching. I started by going to Samaya Conference Center in Werkhoven. (www.samaya.nl) They have (more or less) 6 conference rooms and 40-some bedrooms in an old cloister, which they rent out for conferences, and they also offer organic meals. One of Bunnik's 6 approved wedding locations is in their chapel. The receptionist said she was quite busy and all the conference rooms were occupied but if I wanted to guide myself around the hallways, I was welcome. So I did. I knew already from their website that it was a pretty cool place -- but wow, in person it was 10 times more special! Beautiful flower arrangements, artwork and photographs and garden spaces... just the whole energy of the place. I was literally in tears. I stopped by the reception again on my way out and learned that (a) they have absolutely no shortage of people who want to use their space and have seen no effect from the current economic situation, and (b) rather often they have more seminar participants than can be accommodated in their guestrooms, and for that situation there is a list of back-up hotels in the area, and they would be very happy to put our B&B on that list. Great!
Then I drove into Bunnik and went to visit the organic food store, Bio Goed, located on the same street as "our" house. The man by the checkout, Michael, turned out to be the owner. His first question, when I told him I wanted to start a bio B&B, was, did I realize I was in Bunnik? He walked me to the door and pointed out all the empty store fronts up and down the street. The only reason he is still in business, he said, was because he has no employees. He runs the whole business himself, the way he likes it, because that's the way he likes it. But if I really wanted to do it, he would be very happy to have us there. In fact, he'd be happy to have a Lidl across the street, he said, laughing. Anything to liven up the place. (Lidl is a chain of discount stores, where you can buy, for example, 12 liters at a time of off-brand cola. The polar opposite of one-man owned and run organic food store, dus.) Bunnik is apparently rather sleepy. Many residents work at the University and shop in Utrecht. He told in a very animated way how they have a vrijmarkt (open air flea market -- a Dutch tradition) on Queen's Day -- it starts around 10 a.m. and is all over by noon! Queen's Day in Utrecht, of course, starts the night before, goes on all night with music and partying and games and TONS of people. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Of course, as we're talking, customers are coming in and out. He knew most of them by name and greeted them with, "hey so-and-so
I learned a bunch of useful things: He'd be happy to order for/with us, and not at the "advertised price." There's a short cut over to the warehouse for one of the local important suppliers; we could take turns with him driving over to pick up our orders. We could leave fliers, etc., in his shop. He doesn't have time to provide recipes and samples for his customers and would be happy if we brought soup or snacks down to his shop. He'd be very happy to organize events in cooperation with us. If we want to rent bicycles, there's no one else doing it in Bunnik and we could get a nice supply of good cheap bikes at the police auction. He recommends getting stagaires (apprentice-type people) from the Vrij School (Waldorf school) in Zeist to help out when it is busy. And he knows a family across the street who used to run a B&B and we could talk to them about how it went -- unfortunately they had already closed their shop. His idea was that their B&B didn't go so well, but a client in the store was pretty sure that it was successful and that they stopped for other reasons.
My last stop that day was at the jeugdherberg (youth hostel) in Rhijnauwen. They have rooms to rent (family style with bunk beds and also dormitory style, I think. Plus several conference-type rooms.) I talked to the two guys at the reception. Have they noticed an effect from the economy? Would they recommend opening a B&B in the area? Would they be interested in cooperative efforts? Sadly, it seems that things are not going so well for them. The number of reservations there is much less than it was last year (although last year it was already going down, so I don't know if the problem has to do with the economy entirely.) They said that many hotels are having a hard time and it is quite easy to dig around a little and come up with a big discount at a 5-star hotel, and pay about the same as what they charge at the hostel. They would definitely not recommend investing in a B&B right now. There had been a B&B in Bunnik but it didn't make it. So. That was all a bit sobering. But as Paulus said that night, the youth hostel crowd is absolutely not the same as the B&B crowd.
On Thursday, March 12, I went to the gemeentehuis (city hall) for Bunnik, which is located in the nearby town of Odijk. I found a wall there full of interesting fliers (local choirs performances, agendas for small courses like drawing and yoga, etc.) and spoke with one of their workers. I learned that with a B&B of 5 rooms, we'll need to ask for a gebruiksvergunning (permission for particular use of something). Someone from the city hall would then come by and check for things like emerency exits, etc. But in general, she reacted positively to our idea. I pointed out that I thought a B&B would be good for Bunnik, and she agreed. I also asked about a horecavergunning. It turns out that a horecavergunning is permission for serving alcohol, and only for serving alcohol (although the name suggests that it is about horeca in general: hotels, restaurants and catering.) If we don't serve alcohol (for a payment), we only need a gebruiksvergunning. We can still serve alcohol for "closed" parties and receptions, or for example as part of a chamber music concert during an intermission, as long as the cost is part of the entrance price. I don't think this is how they do it in America, but fine... I think I understand what the rules are now, even if they don't make sense to me.
At the city hall, I also asked about the wedding situation. We had heard from the owners that the city wanted to continue using one of the rooms for wedding ceremonies. I learned that yes, the upstairs hall had been used for weddings before and we could probably continue that. If it is something we enjoy doing and we put some effort into it, we might end up hosting more than the current owners have. But, Bunnik is not like Utrecht and there isn't a huge waiting list for getting married. They do about 50 weddings a year in Bunnik, and that is including Fort Vechten, which is quite a popular location. My conclusion: we aren't going to be doing weddings every month -- but with a good website and outreach, we might be able to appeal to the Utrecht market a bit. If you are free to go to another gemeente to get married, and Utrecht has long waiting lists and Bunnik is very close by.... it doesn't take a rocket scientist...
At the end of our talk, the woman told me about a new organisation in the area that might be interesting to me. She found a full-page ad in the local paper (and here is the website: www.streekhuiskrommerijn.nl) The ad was to promote their opening ceremony on April 4th, but when I read it, I thought, I need to drive right over to their offices now! So I did. They were very friendly and helpful. Apparently, Streek Huis Kromme Rijn is an organization (with a large budget from the national government) to care for the whole Kromme Rijn region -- focusing on the environment, agriculture, history, tourism, and quality of life. Of course, they don't have money to give to an individual B&B, but it is good to know that they are doing things that are likely to make our B&B more successful, like adding more bicycle paths and promoting organic farming. I think we could arrange some sort of open door event, or a canoe or bicycle tour, featuring eco-friendly companies and farms, etc., and apply for a grant to cover our expenses. The people there also suggested that I contact a group called Terecht Anders (www.terechtanders.nl), that works specifically with B&B's, tourist-oriented businesses, farms, producers of organic products, and artists in the area.
My last stop on Thursday was at Amelisweerd, where people I know through Rio de Bio have a tea house (called the bezoekerscentrum -- it is coupled on their kitchen, which is called the Veldkeuken.) I spoke with Juliette there, who was also very helpful and friendly. At their tea house, they haven't seen any negative effects from the economic situation. They have a conference room upstairs that they rent out for 50 Euros for a "dagdeel" (part of a day, usually 4 hours) and it is no problem finding people who want to use it. Frequently those people then eat lunch in the tea house. They have a loyal following, people who are very disappointed when they hear that the room is taken. If Juliette tries to refer them to the youth hostel, they aren't very happy ("it's just not the right atmosphere" -- I think Paulus was right...) Juliette said they would be very happy to work with us, refer their clients to us for the B&B and/or our meeting rooms, and do catering for us (their food is all organic and really delicious -- we'd be crazy to try to make the same products ourselves.)
I really like the way they have set up the tea house, with rough wooden benches and tables, displays of local products and books, flowers, nature drawings on the walls. Like Samaya, it feels friendly and peaceful. And it is also right on the Kromme Rijn, so I'm sure we could cooperate on hiking, biking and canoeing events.
That was Thursday... I still have to report on Friday, but it is already my bedtime.... until tomorrow!
