Peter Gillis’ holiday parks are often described as dirty, run-down and criminal. In several municipalities he is at odds with the local government. At the same time, the entrepreneur is a well-known Dutchman with his own real-life soap. His Prinsenmeer park in Asten also has two sides: a beautiful area for holidaymakers, but also a run-down area where people still live illegally, Omroep Brabant saw.
The author of this article spent a midweek in a mobile home at Prinsenmeer park in Asten to experience for himself what it is like at a park belonging to Peter Gillis’ Oostappen Groep.
Where we write mobile home, the Oostappen Group prefers to talk about ‘mobile home’ and there are hundreds of them on Prinsenmeer. In addition to hundreds of camping pitches, luxury tents, bungalows and chalets. Although some are no longer recognizable as such thanks to the many renovations that long-term residents have carried out.
It mobile home where we stay is small but nice. It stands between the beautiful and the run-down part of the holiday park.
The mobile home costs 65 euros per night, which includes bed linen but unfortunately does not include toilet paper and wifi. We do find a bag of sandwiches in the back of a lunch box. You don’t have to taste them to know that they are no longer suitable for consumption.
The mobile home is quite dated. When we want to close the curtains, let go of the rails. We also see a gas heater, an old geyser and a fire extinguisher that should have been inspected six months ago.
‘We’ll never get there’
Our mobile home is located on the east side, close to the water and a playing field. This part of the park overlooks the beautiful part: chalets are located directly on the water on the west side. Some even have their own jetty.
This is the part where the real-life soap is recorded and where Mark Gillis, Peter’s son, also lives. There are several large banners for the TV program at the entrance and leaflets with the ‘Hatseflats’ hoodie (“Hedde um al?”) are placed at reception.
This is clearly also the part where the fans of the TV show also have a house. On one of the chalets by the water there are even number plates with the texts ‘Hatseflats’ and ‘Foxwild’ (known sayings of Gillis) on the facade.
If we ask the inhabitants about the north side, more in the woods, the division between these two worlds becomes immediately clear. “We’ll never actually get there,” is an often heard phrase.
garbage dumps
And that while the north side covers a considerable part of Prinsenmeer. It is the place where Gillis let hundreds of migrant workers live against the rules.
On a weekday autumn morning it feels run down. Broken caravans held together with tarpaulins, half-collapsed chalets and small rubbish dumps that were once intended as front gardens. It seems extinct, sometimes you can hear a child crying. A woman is outside making her own cigarettes, another draws the curtains as we pass.
These are clearly not holidaymakers. Or ‘this piece isn’t really meant for the summer’, as one resident describes it. He and his neighbors live here permanently. That is not allowed, but it is possible, because there is never a check. We do get a tip if we want to buy a chalet: make sure you have a postal address outside the park, because that can be a problem.
This explains why we see many company vans parked in front of the houses, but no company is registered at the address of the campsite at the Chamber of Commerce (besides Oostappen Groep BV of course).
The municipality of Asten informs Omroep Brabant that permanent residence is still not allowed and that there are indeed checks.
Nuisance
On Tuesday afternoon, one of the improvised party tents on this part of Prinsenmeer suddenly sounds loud music. The many online reviews of the park often write about nuisance. Now, in the fall, that seems to be not too bad.
When we ask about it, a man is suddenly called away by his wife who was listening. A resident of the chalet on the west side of the park says that it is almost always quiet there.
Also with us mobile home it’s quiet this evening. Time for a Foxwild beer, available in the camping shop, just like the liqueur Gilliske.
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