It is perhaps one of the most famous TT campsites in Assen: TT camping Oostra. It is a household name for TT-goers. This is evident from the always full pasture during the event. Because where it is a grass meadow throughout the year, it is a campsite during the TT. And that right next to the circuit.
From January the family has been preparing for the campsite. “We really live towards the TT,” says owner Tineke Hommes-Oostra. “We can’t say: we start in May, because then we’ll be way too late.”
Because even before the MotoGP fans enter the campsite, there are the World Superbike fans in April who stored their camp there. After that event, the whole family steams for the TT.
While everyone counts down to the 100-year anniversary of the TT, the Oostra family is looking forward to the 99th birthday of the campsite. Because almost a hundred years ago the story of TT camping Oostra also began. “My grandmother, my father’s mother, started it,” explains Hommes-Oostra. At the time, the TT was still driven over the old street circuit in Assen and Hooghalen.
That route also passed the house of the Oostra family. “People from Lochem wanted to stay over during that second TT in 1926. They slept in the straw in the shed. That’s how it started.”
Hommes-Oostra thought it was something, living next to the circuit. She has good memories of it. “When people asked where we lived and we The hair 1 said, then they didn’t know that. If we said: the TT track, then people knew it right away. “But there were also times when she thought it was crazy, all those people in that straw.” As a child I remember that they were in the shed. I thought it was dead to walk past those people, “she laughs.
The campsite is a real family affair. The fifth generation is now running around. Hommes-Oostra and her husband take care of the campsite, but also their children, friends of the children and even the grandchildren. They all live towards the TT.
“Our 9 -year -old granddaughter really wants to help at the campsite, but that is not allowed yet. We always say: if they are rid of primary school, they can help.” For example, the grandchildren of 14 and 15 already help at the campsite. “They really like that,” says the proud grandmother.
For Hommes-Oostra, the TT campsite is the highlight of the year. “We arrange so much in advance. If things go well, that’s really great.” The guests know how to find the campsite every year, especially the regular guests. Just as the campsite is transferred to the next generation, the tradition to go to the campsite is also transferred. “There were people who knew two years ago when I was born. And there are now also babies one week old who come to the campsite.”
TT camping Oostra works without reservations. “It’s so much paperwork, we don’t have place numbers, so that’s an impossible job.” That is why regular guests are there early. The campsite is usually full on the Thursday before the TT weekend.
Hommes-Oostra is also expecting this year. “Every year it is almost the same, if you would take pictures of every year, they are all the same. Everyone immediately drives to where they are always,” she says laughing.
From now on it is preparing and counting down. “We have to be ready on time, because the first guests always come the weekend before the TT.” And after all these years they still enjoy doing it. “We have always done it and keep doing it as long as it is possible.”