Langos via leipzig: Five star camping

There is no border post, these days, between Holland and Germany and you might not even realize that you have changed countries, though you sense a difference. Things are bigger in Germany. Actual physical spaces seem grander, wider, thicker, higher, larger.

In Holland the roads (the ones that we mainly travel on, anyway) are mostly narrow, even somewhat claustrophobic. They usually have only one lane each way (often with a minuscule excuse for a shoulder), then a big flat green patch of grassy median strip each side, then a bicycle path large enough for a horse and goodly-sized cart to negotiate. Bicycles, left and right, get as much money spent on their tracks in Holland as do motorists on their roads.

And, there are many smaller roads in Holland with only a single lane, shared by to and fro traffic, which moves off the centre driving lane for oncoming traffic into the marked coloured bicycle lanes that are painted on either side of the bitumen. It is a small country, this is a sensible solution to space shortage.

In Germany, bicycles are not the feature. The roads for vehicles are prime, and larger. The paddocks suddenly grow larger, as do homes, farmhouses, farms. and the vistas go on into forever. Such rural roads took us fast to our first five star campground experience ever in Europe: in a little pretty town, Barntrup. Wow! Double wow! We would have been happy staying in its Stellplatz, which happened to be a beautiful hardstanding space, off a little park, with access to power and the village swimming pool if you so wished it.

Stellplatz are special parking lots throughout Germany for motorhomes. Sometimes these are free, sometimes you pay a token for 240v power for a few hours, sometimes you might pay a charge, something like €10 a night, depending on the community providing such parking spaces. In France, similar spaces for motorhomes are called Aires.

Curious cats that we are, we drove past the Stellplatz area in Barntrup to the actual motorhome section of the campground and were so wooed we instantly booked in. For €20 a night. Brilliant! There were 9 parking spots for motorhomes: each with its own large rectangle of green, plush, artificial turf laid out for those inclined to sunbathe, and finished off with its own individual garden with a standard metre high May bush shrub as a feature, underplanted with tiny layers of smaller plants.

Our motorhome sat on tiny crunchy stones that were (blessedly!) level: no need for chocks. We also had own power plug, our own water reel, our own massive European barbecue. No need for sharing.

Then we checked out the other amenities, and few homes could possibly be lovelier. We walked up a central foyer of a half timbered building into a contemporary spa-like entrance to the bathroom amenities. The vestibule was decorated in soft white tiles with iced lemon and pastel green tiles as occasional feature contrasts, sumptuous with pots of tall, thick, green plants marking out spaces. Muzak was piped into speakers beside overhead downlights. Subtle little cubicles, veered off into beautiful architectural spaces left and right: here a designer shower enclave, there a designer toilet. And there were even the occasional individual combined toilet, shower, and loo cominations. Larger than our master bathroom at home.

I could have moved in and been left for the summer. So luxurious, it was quite unbelievable. All kitted out with designer tiles, Groehne tapware and heavy sumptuous German stainless steel. It is hard to imagine too many hotels in Germany being nicer. So, far we’ve had three nights like this on the trot. We may never come home.