Review of the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ in Wemeldinge / Zeeland

We’ve recently returned from a week’s holiday in Zeeland, Netherlands. Instead of going for a hotel, we decided to book ourselves a little guesthouse via Airbnb. And I’m delighted to say, we’ve picked an absolute gem this time, the ‘Little American Guesthouse’. So, read on for my review of this guesthouse in Wemeldinge.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of Wemeldinge before. To be honest, neither had I. We didn’t specifically look for a guesthouse in Wemeldinge, we were looking for nice accommodation in Zeeland in general.

Since we were going to the Netherlands by car and were also planning on taking our bikes, the two must-haves when searching for guesthouses in Zeeland were free parking and place to store / lock the bikes. Well and obviously not too pricy.

We’ve stayed in several Airbnb guesthouses over the years. And I do love the quirky little gems you can find. Unlike booking a hotel or booking a holiday home via a big travel agency, most Airbnb feel a lot more personal. There are little glimpses of the owner’s personality, personal touches, snippets of history. Sometimes even some local treats as welcome present. But whilst I love personal touches, I don’t want to stay in a place that feels like the owner has just temporarily vacated it, so I could stay in there. Do you know what I mean? It is a very fine line between being welcomed with personal touches and feeling like an intruder in someone else’s home. And I’m glad to say, the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ ticked the boxes just right.

Review of the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ in Wemeldinge: The Location

So, as mentioned before, we didn’t pick Wemeldinge for any specific reason. In fact, we’d never even heard of it. But it seemed a decent enough little village by the water. And it sure delivered on looks and location. Unfortunately, we did not get to see much of the village itself, as we picked a week of torrential rain for our stay in Zeeland. So, the only walk we had through Wemeldinge was directly after arrival on Monday. But more on that in a different post.

Wemeldinge has about 3000 inhabitants (although I get the impression there might be loads more people around in the height of summer, when tourists are flooding the area). It used to be its own independent village, but nowadays belongs to nearby Kapelle. Wemeldinge is directly located by the shore, has a little yacht harbour, two historic windmills and a few small shops, restaurants and cafés. However, as we visited end of September, some of those restaurants and cafés seemed to have closed up for winter.

But enough of the preliminaries, let’s finally dive into my review of the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ in Wemeldinge:

The ‘Little American Guesthouse’ hasn’t been on the market for long, Peter and William only recently started renting the cabin out.

By the looks I’d say, the guesthouse started its life as a garage. But it has been transformed into a wonderful little guesthouse and certainly doesn’t feel like a garage anymore (although you can still see the old hinged garage doors on the outside, but no worries, they are blocked off on the inside).

The guesthouse is located at the bottom of the garden of the main house. You have an allocated parking spot behind the guesthouse and can enter the garden via a separate door. Meaning the guesthouse is its own little unit and you don’t have to interact with your hosts if you don’t want to. Although they are good fun to talk to and we did regret not having more time to chat (maybe next time, when the weather is better, and one actually likes spending time outside).

Review of the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ in Wemeldinge: The Accommodation

As the name already suggest, the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ isn’t huge. But the space is designed well, so that it works. For a couple, the size is perfect. But you probably wouldn’t want to bring any kids with you.

You enter straight into the kitchen / dining area, with the bathroom straight on and the bedroom / living room to your right.

The layout is a bit unconventional, as you have the shower next to the kitchen. Yes, there is a sliding door, so you could close it off when showering. But that doesn’t mask the fact, that you shower in your kitchen (and no, I have no idea why I didn’t take a photo of it…. I was pretty sure I did but can’t find it now). Which wasn’t a problem for us (well, we obviously ensured we kept the kitchen curtains closed until after the showering). But if you are someone that needs their privacy and isn’t too keen on showering in front of their partner (or if you are thinking of sharing with a friend), then this is something to consider.

Shower aside, the kitchen comes with a fridge, a dishwasher, cooker (induction, which was a nice change from our dodgy old gas cooker at home), Nespresso coffee maker, microwave and oven. Along with pots, pans, dishes, glasses.  And the neighbour’s cat. Everything you need really (ok, maybe not the neighbour’s cat, if you ask Mr T. But you don’t have to let it in, if you don’t want to). There was even a selection of oils and spices, coffee pods, sugar and so on. Very convenient, as you don’t have to bring all the basics.

And as a little welcome gift, Peter and William left us some beers and a bottle of wine in the fridge and some crisps and popcorn on the counter. Nice touch guys, much appreciated.

There’s a dining table for two, plus a little table and chairs outside, for al fresco dining if the weather allows.

Then there is the larger living room / bedroom. It comes with a large (and very comfy) double bed, a sofa and TV. Plus bedside tables and a small chest of draws and some hangers for your stuff. If you are only staying for a few days, the storage space is adequate. However, since our visit to Zeeland was part of a longer trip (we’ve been to Germany before and I came straight from Paris to Germany, so was carrying far more shit than I normally would for a five day trip), the room looked like a bomb had exploded about five minutes after we unloaded the car.

If you are lucky enough to visit the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ in decent weather, there is a nice outside space waiting for you. We had been lucky the first evening and are really glad we made the most of it. As the rain set in the next morning.

The garden area of the guesthouse is screened off from the main garden by a fence and hedge, so you do have some privacy when you sit outside.

There’s several tables and chairs here (so although the table in the kitchen only sits two people, out here you could even entertain guests.

You have a gas light barbeque and a little wood burner at your disposal (including chopped wood), so there is nothing stopping you from having a nice barbeque and entertaining evening out there. Even in September we could still stay out until late, thanks to the fire keeping us warm.

As you have probably guessed from my review of the ‘Little American Guesthouse’ in Wemeldinge, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. I’d happily recommend the place to anyone looking for accommodation in Zeeland.

Yes, it might not be the cheapest one out there. We payed approx. 270 GBP for four nights, which I’d call reasonable. Considering how much we enjoyed it (and how much money I occasionally spend on hotels that I don’t enjoy at all).