• 3 nights bed & breakfast at 4* Apollo Hotel, Groningen
• 2 evening dinners at the hotel
• Local transfers throughout the programme
• Services of an accompanying ECT tour manager
• 2 days entry to Quiltfestival Noord Groningen
• Specialist quilt workshop with Herma de Ruiter
• Entry to Pakhuis Museum and guided tour with tea and cake
• Entry to Schokland Museum 
• Lunch at Schokland
• Return flights to Amsterdam (if flight package is booked)

Day One

Approx 1200h - arrive at Amsterdam Schiphol airport where you will be met by your Tour Manager and begin the journey to Groningen.

Lunch stop at Urk

1530 - arrive at Museum Pakhuis Koophandel, Leeuwarden. Welcome tea/coffee and cake on arrival.

1545 - guided tour of the collection and special quilt exhibition which includes demonstrations.  After the tour you will have time to shop for materials

1700 - depart museum and onward travel to Groningen

Approx 1800 - arrive 4* Apollo Hotel, Groningen . Located in the striking La Liberte building designed by French architect Dominique Perrault, the Apollo Hotel is 20 minutes from Grote Markt. With streamlined, modern bedrooms (all with tea and coffee-making facilities, air conditioning and a lounge area), a 24/7 bar and fitness centre, it is the perfect base for this tour.

Evening - group dinner at the hotel

Day Two

Breakfast at the hotel then transfer to Noord Groningen for a full day at the Quilt Festival

Day Three

Breakfast at the hotel then transfer to Noord Groningen for a full day at the Quilt Festival

Evening - group dinner at the hotel and speciality workshop with Herma de Ruiter. 

Day Four

Breakfast at the hotel

Morning at leisure to explore Groningen

Late morning - check out of the hotel and transfer to Schokland

Lunch at Schokland

Afternoon - continue on to Amsterdam Schiphol for return flights to the UK

Tour ends

Some of you will know Herma from her wonderful quilt designs that appear in international exhibitions, on Instagram, Pinterest and favourite quilting and patchwork publications. Her online tutorials are much enjoyed and widely shared - anyone who's watched one will know how wonderfully informative and hugely enthusiastic she is and how much she enjoys sharing ideas and techniques. 

We asked Herma to tell us what she has planned for this workshop:

Staphorst is one of the last remaining places in the Netherlands where you still find women wearing traditional dress on an everyday basis. They make these costumes themselves and the thing I really like - and which has inspired the workshop - is the multi-coloured 'stipwerk’, or dot-work,  which they use to decorate their workday caps, as well as other areas of the costume. They make it using nails and fabric paint and we’ll be using embroidery to create something very similar in the workshop. The plan is to stitch the fabric onto book wraps so everyone will have a little notebook to take home as a nice reminder of their trip to the Netherlands. It’s really important to me that my students leave the class with something that makes them happy.

One of the exhibiting artists is Hilde van Schaardenburg, whose beautiful contemporary quilts explore "the beauty of the universe, the earth, people, animals and plants."  She will be showing a series of three-dimensional installations in a church. Look out for 'Duet', a co-operative work with her husband Dirkjan van Schaardenburg and 'Waterfall', an electro-acoustic piece featuring a quilt made from materials including crepe georgette, linen and gemstone, combined with a soundtrack by musician Tine Surel Lange. The image below gives a flavour, but we can't wait to experience it live!