Our connection to Westenschouwen began in 1920, when my grandparents, Waalko Jans Dingemans and Henriëtte (Jet) Dingemans–Numans, both artists then living in Groningen, bought a simple cottage once used by farm workers ('Voorhuis') as a family summer retreat.
In 1936, the 'Atelier' was built as an artist’s studio for my grandmother and was designed by my uncle, Ir. F.C.J. Dingemans. In 2017, we added '14 Bis', purchased from our neighbour.
Our Story
Our story really began in 1919
After the war, my grandfather travelled by motorbike, his famously loud and rattling stoomfiets, to visit Belgian refugees he and my grandmother had helped during the war. On the way home to Gorinchem, he stopped in Zierikzee to visit his friend Siert Triezenberg, who had just become president of the court there.
Zierikzee, 1919 – etching, W.J. Dingemans Sr.
He already knew Zeeland well. As a painter, he had spent time in Domburg in the early 1900s, working alongside artists like Toorop and Mondriaan, and they had lived for several years in Aardenburg. That stop in Zierikzee gave him the chance to explore further with his motorbike. At that time, the island of Schouwen was isolated and rural, the RTM steam tram reached only as far as Burgh, and from there, the road faded into a sandy cart track. His motorbike allowed him to follow it all the way to the far western edge of the island.
There, he came upon what he later described as an idyllic spot and rented a small, recently renovated farm cottage from a local farmer for six weeks that summer. In a letter to Noot Maris—wife of the artist Simon Maris—my grandmother described the holiday as “very basic and primitive.” However a year later, they returned and bought the cottage, and it became my grandmother's rustig hoekje — quiet corner.
"Waalko was in Zierikzee in the spring and made a beautiful etching..."
Letter from my grandmother to Noot Maris, after the summer 1919 describing their first stay “very basic and primitive.”
The history of our stay here and our love for this island certainly began thanks to that stoomfiets. Without it, my grandfather would almost certainly never have reached the westernmost point of the island: the hamlet of Westen-Schouwen.
Zeeland had everything he loved: soft light, wide skies, the sea, and open landscapes, but above all, horses on the beach and in the dunes, his greatest passion to paint.
Over a century later, we’re still here. The houses have gently evolved, but the peace, the dunes, and the beauty of the place remain. And now we welcome guests to enjoy the same landscape that first captured my grandfather’s heart.
