It took years, and that is why those who were interested from the very beginning have sought refuge elsewhere. But finally they are here in Assen. The first seven tiny houses on the Schakelhof, until recently a piece of agricultural land between the A28 and the Baggelhuizen district.
It is now quite a slog through the mud to get to the houses. But as soon as spring arrives, the first greenery with flowers and shrubs will blossom, the new residents predict. “And then it looks a lot nicer.”
One of them is 29-year-old Margreet Wieske. She exchanges her small rental apartment in the city of Groningen for ‘nice detached living in another city’. “As a single person, it is financially impossible to get a detached home, which is unaffordable. And now with this tiny house it has worked out well.”
She settled down last weekend, with all her belongings, in her second-hand house on wheels. “Purchased via Marktplaats, delivered on a trailer from Sint Annaparochie. Such a purchase is of course a gamble, but it turned out really well. I am very happy with it.”
She has a total of 28 square meters of living space available, just over half of the maximum permitted 50 square meters that applies to the houses on the Schakelhof. Or maybe her new place isn’t a bit cramped after all?
“No, not at all. It’s more than enough. There will also be a shed soon. And if I compare it with the apartment in Groningen where I lived, I have even improved in terms of space.”
She looks forward to spring, when everything around her home is beautifully green. She still looks out on a mud pool, with deep trenches and sand bumps everywhere. In between, men with excavators are busy laying cables and pipes for electricity, water and sewerage.
“It will soon be wonderfully free living here,” she laughs. Although, when you are outside, you can clearly hear the cars whizzing past on the nearby A28, despite the noise barrier. But it doesn’t bother her. “It’s like living by the sea and hearing the sound of the waves. You get used to it.”
The Groningen native only joined the project in May. Because at first she had her doubts about whether she wanted to live in the Asser residential community with 21 tiny houses, made up of seven courtyards, with three houses close to each other per courtyard.
“I was a bit hesitant at first, being so close to each other, and having to do all kinds of things together. But now that I’m sitting here and experiencing how we interact with each other here as neighbors, it feels very good. Hang out with each other if you feel like it, but luckily it’s not a necessity.”
Watch below how the first tiny houses in Assen got off the ground, story continues below the video