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Food Identity by My Treats Researched
Appelscha · Netherlands

Herberg Het Volle Leven

A vegetarian inn on the edge of the Drents-Friese Wold woodland, where a daily three-course surprise menu is built around organic vegetables from the kitchen's own garden.

The essentials, at a glance

◐
Impact score
4 - Recognised
→
Documented practices
Local sourcing
Seasonal cooking
Low waste
Sustainable meat/fish plant-based kitchen
Plant-forward menu

Style
Casual
Cosy
Cuisine
Dutch
Good to know
Terrace
Garden

The delicious details

Herberg Het Volle Leven opened in 2004, when owner and chef Yt van der Ploeg turned a long-held dream into a place where guests could feel at home. The fully vegetarian kitchen sits on the edge of the Drents-Friese Wold near Appelscha, on grounds that include a terrace, a pond and the restaurant's own vegetable garden.

There is no fixed menu. Each evening brings a three-course surprise selection shaped by what the season offers, with vegan versions and other dietary wishes prepared on request. A large share of the vegetables is grown in the garden and picked the same day, while the rest is sourced from the surrounding region.

The mood is unhurried and informal, a place where nothing is required, with indoor seating around the woodstoves in colder months. Organic wine, a special beer or organic juices round out the table.

Menu
What's on the table, and what's left off

The fully vegetarian kitchen serves a daily three-course surprise menu, extending to four, five or six courses on request, with at least half vegan and vegan versions prepared on request. Vegetables, many harvested from the restaurant's own garden that morning, lead every plate; dishes are built from whole, fresh ingredients and paired with organic wine, beer or juices.

Cuisine
Dutch
Dietary options
Vegetarian options
Vegan-friendly
Dairy-free options
Allergies handling
Notice At booking

Notify the restaurant at booking with any dietary wishes or restrictions; vegan versions and dedicated dishes are prepared on request. As a fully vegetarian kitchen, fish, shellfish and molluscs are structurally absent.

What the restaurant explicitly accommodates
Shellfish
Fish
Molluscs
Impact score
How this restaurant rates
4 - Recognised

Het Volle Leven has confirmed responsible practice across several areas of its cooking. A large part of its vegetables is grown in the restaurant's own garden and harvested the same day, with the remaining produce drawn from the surrounding region, keeping the supply chain short and direct.

The menu follows the seasons closely: a surprise selection that changes daily around what has just been picked. In the kitchen, organic buying is paired with a no-waste approach and on-site recycling of what little is left over.

Above all, this is a vegetable-led kitchen, a fully vegetarian menu where produce is the centre of every dish and vegan versions are prepared on request.

The impact dimensions
Local & direct sourcing✓
Seasonal cooking✓
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
n/a
Plant-forward menu✓

Much of the produce is grown in the restaurant's own garden and picked the same day; remaining vegetables come from regional suppliers.

Herberg Het Volle Leven grows a large share of its vegetables in its own garden and harvests them the same morning — the most direct form of local sourcing for a vegetable-led kitchen. The remaining produce is sourced from the surrounding region and regional suppliers, keeping the supply chain short and traceable.

Strongest sourcehetvolleleven.com ↗

A new three-course surprise menu is composed each day from seasonal produce, much of it from the restaurant's own garden.

The daily-changing surprise menu is built entirely around what the season offers and what has just been harvested from the restaurant's own vegetable garden, so seasonality is a guiding principle rather than a marketing angle. No ingredient falls out of season.

Strongest sourcehetvolleleven.com ↗

The kitchen operates a no-waste policy with on-site recycling of kitchen byproducts.

The restaurant states a no-waste policy as a core operational value, with most kitchen waste recycled on site. This is paired with largely organic purchasing and the use of the restaurant's own vegetable garden, pointing to a broadly circular sourcing and waste-minimisation loop.

Strongest sourcehetvolleleven.com ↗

The kitchen is fully vegetarian; this dimension does not apply.

Herberg Het Volle Leven is entirely vegetarian, so sustainable sourcing for meat and fish is not applicable. The restaurant's plant-forward focus and vegan-forward menu are covered under the plant_forward_menu dimension.

Strongest sourcehetvolleleven.com ↗

Fully vegetarian and at least 50% vegan, with garden vegetables leading every plate.

The kitchen is entirely vegetarian and at least 50% vegan, with vegetables — many from the restaurant's own garden — as the explicit centre of every dish. Vegan versions are prepared on request. The restaurant's positioning and corroboration via third-party vegetarian directories (HappyCow, regional tourism guides) confirm a genuinely plant-led identity.

Strongest sourcehetvolleleven.com ↗
Sourcing signals
✓
Own-grown produce

A large share of vegetables is grown in the restaurant's own garden and harvested the same day ('morning harvested, evening on your plate'). Corroborated by regional tourism and vegetarian directory listings as a vegetable-focused kitchen.

Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Oude Willem 5, 8426 SM Appelscha, Appelscha, Netherlands
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€€
Format
Daily surprise menu, reservations required
Style
Casual
Cosy
Good to know
Terrace
Garden
Web
hetvolleleven.com
Reserve a table
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 13 Jul 2026
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How we score
The My Treats impact scale

Every restaurant is assessed against SEERO, our six-dimension sustainability framework — covering sourcing, seasonality, waste, animal products, social impact, and plant-forward cooking. Each finding is weighted by how strongly it is corroborated. The combined result is translated into a planet rating from 1 to 5.

The five levels

SEERO is an acronym for Starting, Engaged, Endorsed, Recognised, Outstanding:

Starting First verified signals of sustainable practice.
Engaged Credible practice across two dimensions.
Endorsed Meaningful practice across three or more dimensions.
Recognised Strong practice across four or more dimensions, with independent corroboration.
This place
Outstanding Top-tier practice, confirmed by recognised third-party audit.

How a level is reached. Each level needs two things together: a minimum number of dimensions covered, and a minimum overall strength of evidence across them. A dimension only counts once its evidence is specific and substantiated — a passing mention doesn't qualify. Meeting only one of the two keeps a restaurant a level lower.

Ratings of four or five planets require human validation and, at the top tier, an external audit. Scores are based on publicly available evidence and restaurant submissions at the time of assessment.

Full methodology→
Impact dimension
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How this dimension works
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How evidence is weighted
Self-declared Stated by the restaurant on its website, menu or in a submission. Plausible, but not yet independently corroborated.
Researched Found through independent research; one credible third-party source backs the claim.
Vouched Corroborated across more than one independent source. Some gaps may remain.
Audited Fully corroborated across independent sources or by a recognised third-party certification.
What the sourcing checkmarks mean
✓ Full check — independently verified: corroborated across more than one source, or audited / third-party certified (vouched or audited).
✓ Light check — self-declared or from a single source. Not yet independently verified.
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