Hello and thanks for your interest!

We have a nice sized family home constructed in 2008 with all the advantages you need to feel home and relaxed in the area.

The house has:
- 3 bedrooms (one master room and two for children)
- 1 office which could be used as a 4th bedroom
- 1 big bathroom with a bath and a shower
- nice sized living room with big family table, TV, computer and internet (wireless available), and couch
- big kitchen with gas cooker open to living room and great view into the garden
- a big garage built into the house
- a photovoltaic installation on the roof

The garden has:
- nice sized terrace
- tables
- swing
- sandpit
- lots of grass
- it is fenced so small kids cannot leave it
- two big and two small trees

In addition, you will find:

- 2 adult bikes (one with two child seats -one in the front, one in the back- both can be easily removed)
- we can easily organise one bike for boy/girl 5-8 years
- loads of items for young kids 0-4 years to play with: little bikes without pedals, cars, toys etc.
- the house is secured for babies and toddlers, they cannot open the doors or run away as the garden is fenced
- all items necessary for small babies and kids such as baby phone, changing table, mixer, bottle warmer etc.
- fully equipped kitchen, no need to bring anything you will find it in the house

If you come with more than 6 persons, there is a couch in the living room which could sleep 2 additional people.

Our house is situated in Nivelles a town of about 25.000 with a medieval town centre.

The house itself is on a quiet street in a brand new area constructed between 2006-2009 with about 30 houses and 3 apartment blocks. People know each other and help each other. Nina is member of the neighbourhood committee which organises events like common BBQs, St Nikolas for the kids and other events. Have a look at our website www.ecuyer.eu which Nina created. There are about 50 kids in the neighbourhood most of them are between 0-8 years old.

The house is 5min walk from the train station (line Charleroi-Nivelles-Brussels-Antwerp ca. 25min train right into Brussels) and 5 min walk to the next bakery and mini supermarket and 5min by car or 15 min walk to the city centre.

Supermarkets, a mall, the main street and restaurants are about 2km from our home and very good accessible by foot, bike or car.

The main attractions in Nivelles are:

St Gertrude's Collegiate Church
The Museum of Archaeology
The "Récollets"
The Saint-Sepulcre
The Tour Simone
The Law Courts

You can also enjoy a "djote" (tart) and a "Jean de Nivelles (beer) and join in the Nivellois' favourite sport: talking!

More about Nivelles can be found here: http://tourisme-nivelles.be/


Nivelles is a good location as you can do many day trips and still enjoy the quite small town atmosphere. Some of the day trips could include:


- Brussels is only 30min by direct train and has lots of museums, culture etc. And hosts most of the European Institutions and NATO
- Antwerp is only 1h by direct train and offers next to museums and culture great fashion and cutting edge design.
- Namur is only 40 min by car and has a great castle and a nice old shopping area.
- Gent, Brugges, Louvain, Liege are nice towns with great restaurants and a good student atmosphere, they are about 1h drive from Nivelles.
- The Belgium Coast is only 80min drive.
- In the local area you also find among others l'Abbaye de Villers-la-Ville (www.villers.be), Waterloo (www.waterloo1815.be) and Museum Jean-Michel Folon, à la Hulpe (www.fondationfolon.be)

Belgium stand also for Fench fries, beer and chocolate which you will find in all towns and villages!!

Outside of Belgium you can do day tours to e.g.:
- Aachen in Germany, 80min drive
- Maastricht Netherlands, 80min drive
- Lille France, 80min drive

Two or three day trips could already include e.g.
- Paris (train ride is the fastest 80min from Brussels and ca. 2h from Nivelles)
- London (train ride is the fastest ca. 2h30 from Brussels and ca. 3h30 from Nivelles)
- Amsterdam (car ca. 2h30h)
- Cologne (train or car ride ca. 2h45)
- Frankfurt (train ride is the fastest ca. 3h30 from Brussels and 4h15 from Nivelles)


If you are into cycling about 800m from our house a RAVEL starts which stands for a system of ways where only non-motorised persons have access e.g. those who walk, cycle, ride a horse etc. They are very calm and long routes. All routes together in southern Belgium are about 600km. Have a look here: http://ravel.wallonie.be/opencms/opencms/fr/cles/

For kids there are many fun parks in the area you find an overview here:

http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/theme_parks_belgium.shtml

For kids up to 12 we recommend highly www.pairidaiza.eu it is a magic place, a mixture out of a Zoo and a Park. They have a bird show which should not be missed. It is about 45min drive from Nivelles.

Should you wish to have any further information e.g. what to do with small kids, or if you need any help with your planning for trains just contact us.

We have a Renaud Grand Scenic, which fits in easily 5 adults. In the back 3 car seats for children fit in as well. It has a GPS system for the whole of Europe and it has 6 gears (NOT an automatic car!). Car seats for children for all ages can be provided. We would add the car if we get yours in return.


Should you be interesed that your kids learn French we could help you finding a "day camp" for them (in Belgium school vacations only). They are called "stages" in Belgium and run on various themes, sports, arts etc. normaly Monday-Friday from 9-16h. They are organised by sports clubs, schools or private initatives for kids from 2,5 to about 12 some also take teenagers. They are not very expensive (normally between 80-120€) a week and would be a great way to integrate your kids into the local community, culture and to learn or improve the language in a fun way.

The Airport Charleroi Brussels South (a main Ryanair airport) is only 30 min by car! So many European destinations are easily reached from our home.

August and one or two weeks before or after would be the best travelling time for long exchanges oversea for us.

For exchanges in Europe we would prefer any of the Belgium school holidays http://www.enseignement.be/index.php?page=23953.

However, as our kids are not yet in school we can consider other times as well.

We found an exchange partner for summer 2013 in California.

We are looking for a great location to go skiing and or spend some time in the snow in winter 2012/2013..

Corsica is also a destination where we would like to go soon.

The West Coast of Northern America in general and Vancouver Island would be very tempting.

Otherwise we are open to long weekend exchanges in the area e.g. Mosel, Netherlands, Northern France, Belgium coast.

In winter we love to go skiing so if someone would like to exchange one or two weeks their home in a skiing area please do not hesitate to contact us.

We spend many vacations already in the Alps in Winter as in Summer so if you are from there we would like to hear from you.

For autumn and spring destinations in southern Europe ideally close to a Ryanair airport would be great as well.

But please feel free to surprise us!

We are a family of 4. Amael (32) is an expert in accounting and Nina (31) is working with the European Commission. Elise is a proud kindergarten child born in August 2009 and Colin is a smiling boy born in April 2011.

Nina is German and has lots of travelling experience and was a student in Santa Cruz, CA for 3 months in a private school in 1997 and a Camp Counselor in NH in 2000. When she grew up her family hosted many exchange students mainly from France and England. As a university student she travelled in Egypt, Thailand, Singapore and many European Countries. She studied in Germany, Wales, UK and Poland and holds degrees in Sociology, Politics and European Studies. Since 2004 she has lived in Belgium and focused on the kids, her career and the house. She likes kayaking, roller blading, hiking and enjoying the beach.

Amael is Belgian (Wallonian so French speaking) and travelled so far in Europe and recently he explored NYC. He holds an accounting and a finance degree from Belgium Universities. He likes basketball and would like to see a NBA game live in the US.

We raise our children bilingual German-French which is working very well so far. We would like that they also speak English fluently one day.

We would like to do home exchanges as it opens up cultural and linguistic possibilities which otherwise would not be possible. We would be very open to meet your friends, neighbours and/or families if they live close by to get local contact when we stay in your house.

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