AMENITIES

This section describes some of the facilities you can find in Oegstgeest.

Children

This is where we are collecting child-specific items which come to us, whether shops, commerce or local attraction: it's pretty much as it comes!

• Children's hairdresser Kinderkoppies on the Kempenaerstraat - www.kinderkoppies.nl. Sandra, who runs this, has worked for years cutting children's hair and a year or two ago customised an extension at the back of her house to start her own tiny and totally private little hairdresser's salon. It is utterly friendly and unthreatening to the very young child, and Sandra will cut your child's hair swiftly and expertly while s/he is held in thrall by a dvd (which you can check for suitability beforehand!). There are toys and books for those waiting, and drinks for the children and for the accompanying parent. Moreover, her prices are WAY lower than anything else locally. She only works on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so do book early (via the website).

Shopping

There are supermarkets at both the Kempenaerstraat and the Lange Voort, with the excellent open-air market every Tuesday at the Lange Voort. This has a choice of fruit and veg stalls, plus cheese, fish, butcher, delicious olive-y type nibbles, baker and a whole stall devoted to potatoes, among others. At the same location are single bakers', cheese and fish stalls on several other weekdays to add to the shopping variety. Lange Voort has more in the way of useful shops (and a Primera / post office location) and will fulfil most of your usual needs, including optician and physiotherapist. The Kempenaerstraat will do likewise with its a modicum of useful shops, plus a wide selection of emporia to cater for all sorts of tastes in designer / expensive clothes and shoes, lighting, houseware, model trains and Farrow and Ball interior design accessories.

Late shopping night is Friday, and both shopping centres (particularly the Lange Voort) regularly have interesting events like book fairs, antiques markets, general car-boot type sales, you name it. The variety is startling; at Lange Voort there is a yearly pancake festival run by the local Scout groups, and a massive mussel cook-in in September. The bouncy castle fair at the ‘t Gouwe pub near the Kempenaerstraat in August (last Sunday of the summer holiday) is very popular.

• Bookshops: Rijnlandse Boekenhandel on the Lange Voort are worth a visit; friendly, with an excellent selection (also English) for such a small shop. They'll order anything for you, and at  www.rijnlandseboekhandel.nl/  you can order for next-day delivery at home. On the Kempenaerstraat de Kler is also not bad.

Library

This is on the Lange Voort, upstairs next to the Hema, and is great; friendly staff, free membership for children (as in Leiden), reading aloud to children on Wednesdays and generally a wonderful resource to have - use it! Website is www.bibliotheekbollenstreek.nl.

Medical

The health centre is in the Centrum voor Jeugd en Gezin (CJG), www.cjgoegstgeest.nl, behind the Gemeentehuis at Rhijngeesterstraatweg 15b. This is for baby/child preventive care and clinics, all the way through to teenage advice and support for families. There are several doctors' practices in the area and if you ring any one you will be able to register or directed to the appropriate one (it's usually allocated by postcode). There are chemists (pharmacists) at the Lange Voort, on the Kempenaerstraat and over the canal in Haaswijk at the Boerhaaveplein. 

Community centre

The  Dorpscentrum   at Lijtweg 9 (also just by the Lange Voort) is where all sorts of activities and classes are held; previously a church hall, this was taken over by ‘the village' in 2016 and now runs a huge variety of classes, activities, shows and general STUFF. There is plenty of scope for joining and also for helping out; just drop in and see what there is on offer, or how you could join in, and have a look at their website, www.dorpscentrumoegstgeest.nl.

The monthly Repair Café is also held here, www.repaircafeoegstgeest.nl.

The organisation  Stichting Evenementen , www.st-evenementen.nl, uses the location for many of their courses.

Town hall and police

The glorious old Gemeentehuis (this used to be an insane asylum, which knowledge always helps me keep my cool if faced with some peculiarly Dutch paperwork or unhelpful official) is at Rhijngeesterstraatweg 15, telephone 071 519 17 93, see  www.oegstgeest.nl  for opening hours. This is where you will need to go to deal with many aspects of civil life here, such as (Dutch) driving licences, passports, ID cards, partnership or marriage ceremonies, etc.