Every design for Noordwijk

Noordwijk aan Zee began as a fishing village on the dunes and stayed one until the early nineteenth century, when visitors gradually took over from the catch. Today its long sandy beach draws around a million overnight stays a year. Two boulevards named after queens run along the front, events gather around the lighthouse on the Vuurtorenplein, restaurants sit right on the sand, and the shops open on Sundays. A few older residents still speak Noordwijks, a dialect close to that of neighbouring Katwijk.

The AtlantikWall Museum and the Museum Engelandvaarders keep the war years in view in a town that otherwise lives very much in the present. Inland, Noordwijk-Binnen keeps a calm, protected historic core around the church named after the martyred priest Jeroen, and in spring the bulb fields of the Duin- en Bollenstreek colour the edges of the village. Out by the dunes, ESA's research centre ESTEC welcomes visitors at Space Expo.

On the map, coast, old village and fields fit into one frame, and for anyone who grew up here each of them carries a summer of its own.