Windmolen De Hoop

Sleeping in a windmill feels different from a regular holiday home. The walls are thick, outside sounds fade away, and light streams in through openings that seem to turn with the day. The octagonal gallery circles the building at height, allowing you to walk from the morning sun on one side to the evening glow on the other without leaving the mill. From this gallery, you look out over the village and the flat surrounding Maasland landscape.

The mill has been a protected monument since 1978. This means the shell, sails, and internal mechanisms cannot simply be altered, which is evident everywhere: beams, shutters, and the main shaft remain just as they were. The transformation into accommodation was built in between these original features, not over them. You are sleeping inside a functioning piece of nineteenth-century engineering.

Elen is located in Dilsen-Stokkem, on the Belgian side of the Meuse Valley. It is a landscape of old gravel lakes, dykes, and small ferries, with cycling nodes leading directly from the village into the countryside. Across the water lies Dutch Limburg; to the west, the Meuse Valley transitions into the forest and heathland of the Hoge Kempen.

For a group, this setting works remarkably well. During the day, everyone scatters across the water, villages, and trails. In the evening, the group gathers back in one building where the different floors naturally create quiet spaces: those who want to sleep early head upstairs, while those who wish to stay up chatting remain downstairs.

The interior of the mill was designed by Grietje Schreuder-van Boekel, who handles the interior design for our homes at specialstays. She kept the curved walls and aged mill timber visible, pairing them with serene colours and custom furniture so that the monument continues to tell its story.

Above the outdoor table hangs a lamp created by her sister Lieske Schreuder, known from B&B Vol Liefde. Not a store-bought light but a piece of art: as night falls outside, it casts a warm circle over the table, gathering the entire group together under the same light.

Read more about Grietje on her profile in our team.

The mill is located in the centre of Elen, in the municipality of Dilsen-Stokkem, Belgian Limburg. By car, it takes about half an hour from Maastricht and just over twenty minutes from Maaseik. The accommodation is suitable for eighteen people and is rented out and managed directly by specialstays.

The mill is a protected monument. This means staircases that follow the curve of the building and floors that narrow as you go higher. Anyone with reduced mobility is better off sleeping downstairs. Booking will be available as soon as the calendar opens; until then, we welcome enquiries by email.

De Hoop was created for groups looking for a building all to themselves: a family weekend with three generations, friends cooking together, or a group celebrating a birthday or anniversary in Limburg. Eighteen beds under one roof means nobody needs to travel back and forth between different locations.

For a couple seeking quiet, this is not the right fit; our smaller homes work better for that. And because it is a protected monument, the mill is less suitable for groups with very young children who cannot handle the stairs yet.