Twenty years ago my husband and I first saw Le Coustal, a property with a couple of buildings which were all in need of restoring and it was love at first sight, when we drove up the hill and saw the buildings. We first started to restore our own house and a small gite and built the swimming pool as at that time our daughter was only 5 years old. We then started to renovate the building which we are renting out now and which is called Le Coustal. At al later stage we added two other bedrooms and bathrooms. We are still restoring as we also bought the property of our neighbour and since three years we are the proud owners of Lalande-Laborie as well.

I come originally from the Netherlands, however I have been living in many countries, such as England, Spain, Malaysia and eleven years ago my husband, daughter and myself moved to the United Arab Emirates, where I now live half of the year and half of the year in France, looking after the houses. We started a company in Fujairah, in engineering and we also have a architectural department, which comes in use with all the renovation and building we do on our domain. I keep myself occupied with the financial administration of our company in Fujairah and also with looking after the property in France. My daughter and I have a great love for horses, so where we live there are always some horses around. I thoroughly enjoy helping to create the gardens and making our houses look like a home for people who like to spend their holidays at Lalande-Laborie.

The Dordogne is for me one of the most beautiful regions I know, and I have travelled a lot, however each time when I return here I am struck by the beauty of the region in each season. We have medieval towns like Sarlat. Very picturesque villages, a lovely country side. The rivers Vezere and Dordogne where you can enjoy canoeing. The many castles , such as Castelnaud, Chateau de Losse, Milandes, Beynac and many others. The markets, with their fresh products. The country walks you can make and the horse riding you can do, makes this region for me one of the most beautiful I have ever been to.