Our house is an in style renovated 1915 Art Nouveau mansion-type former rectory. It stands in 2000m2 landscaped flower and shrub garden with winding paths, a small pond, a small copse, a fruit garden and 3 terraces to give your shade as well as sun. And an abundance of flowers to decorate the rooms with. We employ a gardener - no work for you! By the way, you may meet in the garden Egbert the hedgehog, one of 35 varieties of birds, and at night the odd bat, marten or owl.
While installing all mod cons, we havemaintained the character of the 1915 period in our decorating. You'll find a spacious entrance hall from which you enter a large light live-in modern kitchen on the right and a suite of sunny living room cum dining room at the left. The front living room has a parquet floor and a cosy open fire place. At the back of the hall there is the door to the large deep cellar, the television room and the passage to our office rooms. A wooden staircase from there gives access to our 'inspiration room', where books and programs for the college are written, but it is also a bedroom in its own right.
Upstairs from the entrance hall via a stately staircase you reach a landing which gives access to
1. A library (many english books!) with antique writing table and 2 chairs above a balcony with leaded glass doors 2. Artist studio room for those artistically inclined 3. Bathroom with shower and large bath 4. Light and airy master bedroom with electrically adjustable twin beds (and piano) 5. A second bedroom with twin beds and writing desk
The house has a cosy and friendly feel to it.

Niekerk lies 10 miles outside the lively university city of Groningen, in the northern Netherlands,in the so-called Western Quarter. This is a region in which tree-lined meadows, undulating waterways winding roads and wooded areas are mixed into a very pleasant, quiet and attractive landscape, wonderful for explorers. You are just half an hour away from the coast with a half hour boat service to the beautiful North Sea islands ( a must) and an equal half hour away from the larger woods of the adjacent Province of Drenthe. Take one of the 50 Hiking Trails (4 -14 miles) through quiet nature areas which look as if you are back in the early 1900 hundreds. If you are keen on water sports, the other bordering Province of Friesland is also a half hour away and it abounds in lakes and waterways. Rent a sailing- or motorboat and forget who and where you are. It is wonderful biking country, varied and nicely flat. We love this area because it blends a wonderful and accessible nature with lots of cultural and quaint things to do, see and visit. View the house with Google Street View by typing 5 Zandumerweg Niekerk - Grootegast.
Should you like to explore further afield: Amsterdam and Utrecht are 2 hours away, Germany 1 hour, Belgium 4 hours. Paris is 6 and London 7 hours away.

We're limited to around 3 - 3 1/2 weeks in the summer months July - August of 2014 because of our College vacation time.
9 days in october 2013 is also a possibility

Italy, France, Spain, but open to other possibilities

We are Joost & Louise Drenthe (63), psychologists and psycho-therapists. Loes focuses more on the therapy side and Joost more on communication trainings for organizations. Joost is also the director of the Orbis Institute, a private college where people are trained to be organizational trainers, coaches and mediators. He is the author of 50+ books and plays the guitar (folk and blues), while Loes has music (singing, alto-recorder) ,gardening and (vegetarian) cooking as hobbies. The two other members of our household are two very social cats:Thomas and Binky. When you go away neighbours will gladly take over the care for them.

HOLIDAY WISHES. We are already booked for summer '13 and fall '14 but are looking for 7-9 days in October 2013 in Italy, Spain or France ( no cities) and 3 weeks for the summer of 2014. We love to explore: e.g.hiking through nature, 2nd hand bookshops, antique shops, art galleries, good (vegetarian) food, old towns, festivals, markets etc. We are not city people but like the rustic life and countryside. We’d like our exchange house in a quiet spot.

Nederlands, English, Deutsch