I landed in Amsterdam Schiphol all glittery-eyed and raring for a new start in a beautiful new city. Call it newcomer’s excitement, naivety, or sheer ignorance, but I have so far only been able to come up with ways that Holland is infinitely better than the UK.

Of course I miss pints being the standard unit of beer measurement, and as a West Country girl of course I miss vintage-matured cheddar cheese and ice cold cider. But that’s it… really, it is!

And so: flip the UK the finger, side-saddle the back of my fifty euro bike, and let me pedal you furiously through some of the pros, advantages, and utter gifts that come with living in the Netherlands.