The Japanese Watergarden
Overview
De Japanse Watertuin in Naaldwijk was a large covered Japanese water garden at Grote Woerdlaan 38. A Naaldwijk postcard collection records a separate item titled “De Japanse Watertuin / The Japanese Watergarden” with the year 1998, which is the best available establishment date for the database. Later tourism and restaurant sources describe the site as a unique indoor Japanese water garden with large ponds, koi carp, bonsai, bamboo, azaleas, birds and stone paths.
History
The garden appears to have originated as a specialist Japanese water-garden, plant and koi-related commercial site run by the Van der Drift family. A 2013 Westland planning document describes the Japanese Water Garden as specialised in the cultivation and sale of Japanese plants, Japanese fish and Japanese garden articles, with a landscaping business and hospitality functions also permitted on the site.
In the early 2010s, the site was transformed into the first location of the Watertuin restaurant concept. Regional reporting from 2012 states that a new restaurant called De Watertuin would open in early 2013 at the location of the Japanese Water Garden on Grote Woerdlaan, using the existing Japanese garden as the central setting. A later Watertuin brochure explicitly states that the name “Watertuin” came from the former Japanese Water Garden in Naaldwijk, which became the first Watertuin restaurant location.
The garden remained publicly visible through the restaurant and event-location use. Bezoek Westland describes De Watertuin Naaldwijk as consisting of several large covered Japanese gardens and enormous ponds with hundreds of colourful koi carp, with walking paths through the gardens and aviaries. A 2025 local report states that the owner of the Japanese Water Garden location is investigating possible conversion of the site into housing for labour migrants, so the present and future garden condition should be treated as uncertain.
Design features
The garden was a large indoor / greenhouse Japanese-style water garden. Esveld’s description states that a 4,000 m² greenhouse in Naaldwijk contained streams, waterfalls and large koi ponds as key elements, with several demonstration gardens in different styles, strong height differences, special planting and careful material use. Tourism sources also mention bonsai trees, bamboo shoots, flowering azaleas, koi ponds, stone walking paths and aviaries.
Garden elements
Bridges
Waters and islands
Stones
Other elements
Current status
Former specialist Japanese water-garden and nursery site, later incorporated into the De Watertuin Naaldwijk restaurant concept. Current regional reporting indicates that the owner is investigating redevelopment of the location for migrant-worker housing, so the long-term survival of the garden setting is uncertain.