Thank you

Hello Caroline,
You can write in englissh when you have a question, no problem, my husband is a canadian.
succes. I work also with WWW.Stamboomforum.nl.

Thank you so much, I wasn't sure whether it was an automatic translation as the answers came back in english or whether people had taken the trouble to use a translator. Goodness knows whether writing in english and using the translator to change it to Dutch makes sense in dutch anyway. :)

Can you advise whether it is worth paying a subscription to ancestry.com or something like that to get information? And when researching family trees is it possible to find out anything about where they lived, occupations etc. Just knowing a name and date of birth and death doesn't mean much to me without knowing any other details.

A subscription to Ancestry.com or similar sites is not necessary I think. Just start searching the databases of the archives. When you've got information like names and dates, you can either order or download copies of the official documents; there you usually can find more information like occupation and addresses.
Then, You can search in other sources, like "Memorie van successie". In such a memorie you can find information on heirs, property owned, whether there was a will, etc.
You can look in the archives of the "notarissen" and "schepenen". Here you can find information on buying and selling property, on loans, custody, etc.
Lots of information on sources you can find at the website of the Nationaal Archief: www.nationaalarchief.nl. Point to Voorouders -> Ondersteuning bij onderzoek -> Informatiebladen. Those information sheets on various subjects, will give information on how and where to find sources on those subjects. Most of them in Dutch only.
On this website of BHIC, you can look at "Genealogisch gereedschap" for information of different types of sources.
On the websites of the archives, you can also find more and more pictures and local newspapers, both downloadable or you can order copies.

That is great information, thank you so much Dorethe, what a terrific message board this is, I am very happy to have stumbled across it and very grateful to have met such kind people to find time to respond.