A couple from Holland are bringing a taste of Dutch food, life, art and gardening to Crayke, discovers CHARLES HUTCHINSON.

ASK Cecile Creemers and Sjaak Kastelijn what is unique about Dutch House, their innovative new centre for art, design and nature at Crayke, and the answer is straightforward.

“It’s that we’re Dutch,” says Cecile.

This distinctive quality goes deeper than the Dutch specialities, such as pannekoeken (pancakes), stroopwafels (waffles) and Dutch apple pie in the shop at the converted Mill Green Farm, on the right hand side on the road from Crayke to Brandsby.

“We hope that people will be inspired by our hands-on, creative approach to exploring art and nature,” says Sjaak, who is applying a similar philosophy to his day-job as garden manager at the Museum Gardens in York, where the gardens’ botanical heritage is being reactivated.

“Our main drive at Dutch House is to create a centre where people can interact with art and interact with nature, and have peace of mind while enjoying a cup of coffee,” says Sjaak.

It was York that first inspired graphic designer Cecile and horticulturalist Sjaak to emigrate from the Netherlands with their son in November 2008. He is called York, on account of being conceived at a bed and breakfast in the city in September, 2006 – you may recall his subsequent use in a romantic publicity campaign by the tourist office – and the city has held a special place in their hearts ever since, leading to Sjaak taking up his gardening post.

He and Cecile took on the lease of Mill Green Farm from the Crayke Estate in February, seeing the potential of farm buildings already converted for use as a jam factory and tea rooms. The key new ingredient was not only their Dutch nationality, but also the potential they saw in utilising nature.

Already they have established a sculpture garden, a wild flower meadow and a “sustainable play-and-discover area for children”, as well as a café with a gallery to showcase art and crafts for sale or rent.

All the artwork is by artists and craftsmen who run workshops at Dutch House in sculpture, painting, printing and raku bead-making inspired by nature. Cecile wants to establish links with galleries to complement the bond with glassmaker Suzanne Dekker, photographer John Potter, artists Jonathan Pomroy, Anna Poulton and Hester Cox and sculptor Jennifer Tetlow.

Cecile and Sjaak are keen to provide opportunities to learn about the natural environment, its wildlife, care and conservation.

With that in mind, Sjaak has plans for talks on sustainable gardening, not least on the importance of wild meadows (“nettles are important for butterflies to nest on,” he says), and he and Cecile intend to roll out a programme of art-themed breaks, outings, lectures and nature-based activities, such as ecological gardening and design, bird watching and wildlife conservation. Creative team-building excursions for office workers are in the pipeline too.

Meanwhile, the gardens are taking shape, the digger now gone, the initial ground work done, as Sjaak uses his hours away from the Museum Gardens to best effect. “It’s a five-year process to get it all to the end stage, including planting all 22 species of trees native to Britain,” he says, emphasising this is a venture with a Dutch courage of a different sort.

• The first Dutch House Summer Festival will be held on Bank Holiday Monday, August 30.

The day’s highlights include live music by blues musicians Paul Judge and Holly Cawte; international pancakes (“Come and try pancakes from all over the world,” says Cecile); Dutch games, such as sjoelen, hullahoop, hinkelen, koekhappen; and the Clog Boat Race, in which you paint your own clog boat and race it on the river Foss. The summer festival will become an annual event.


Fact file

Name: Dutch House.

What: Art, design and nature centre, with ecological sculpture garden, café and arts and crafts shop; art studio for workshops and activities for children and adults; children’s nature zone; bed & breakfast.

Where: Mill Green Farm, Brandsby Road, Crayke, near Easingwold, 15 miles north of York.

Run by: Cecile Creemers and Sjaak Kastlijn, and yes, they are Dutch.

Upcoming workshops: Hester Cox, dry-point chine colle, August 27; Jennifer Tetlow, stone carving, September 10 and 11.

Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm; free entrance; wheelchair friendly.

Website: dutchhouseyorkshire.com.

Phone: 01347 889431.