About us We live here – and it shows

Camping Kotestee is a family business with deep roots. Those roots reach into both the land and our family history. This place has belonged to the same family for seven generations. It is a place we cherish.

Camping Kotestee in the 1970s with caravans, tents and cars

Historic photograph of Krijn and Greet at Kotestee

1965

In 1965, Krijn (✟) and Greet Verhage began developing the campsite step by step, gradually transforming a working farm into a campsite.

Historic photograph of the farmhouse at Camping Kotestee

Piet Polie watches the paths at Camping Kotestee being surfaced in the 1990s.

1991

Piet (✟) and Truus Polie took over in 1991. They improved the grounds and made substantial upgrades to the facilities. Truus still lives on site and manages the campsite day to day. Hers is the first smile you meet.

Children perform in a lip-sync show during a summer campsite activity in the 1990s.

Truus Polie mowing the grass in the Kotestee farmyard on a ride-on mower in the 1980s.

Entrance sign at Camping Kotestee in Ouddorp at sunset, overlooking the Westduinen

Modern wooden chalet with a terrace at a campsite in Ouddorp

2025

Patrick Polie took over the campsite from his mother Truus in 2025. He has worked in tourism throughout his career. He is the seventh generation to own the land and the third to run the campsite.

Three generations of a family relaxing and laughing together on wooden loungers at Camping Kotestee.

These days, perhaps it should be called Poliestee

We prefer to keep the name that is more than 250 years old and carries the history of this place. The property was originally known as De Ruiterswoning, because Jacob Ruyter lived here from 1630. From 1710 to 1794, it belonged to the Koote family, and has been known locally as Kotestee ever since. In the Ouddorp dialect, ‘stee’ means ‘farm’ or ‘farmyard’: the Koote family’s farmstead.

More about our history