Looking for a super gîte?

Check out our official website at supergites.nl.

A gîte  is a French holiday home that is available for rent. Gîtes are usually fully furnished and equipped for self-catering. Many owners choose to handle their own rentals, and you can find these by searching online on the multitude of listing sites or by checking with the local tourist information office. [wikipedia]

A gîte is generally an old farmworkers’ cottage or converted outbuilding. This type of holiday accommodation is sometimes regarded as ‘basic’ in terms of facilities; however, some gîtes will have excellent facilities. Now that called a super gîte.

This blog tells the story behind the first Supergîte; on how we got there and how we’re doing today. Happy reading.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. And I love it.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Getting Fresh Ideas at Floriade 2012

Did you ever visit a garden fair where you experienced a green overkill? Every 10 years there’s the Dutch Floriade that gives you just that. It’s 163 acres of endless flower park.

This year 2012 it was held near the city of Venlo in the south of the Netherlands. We went just on time because even though it takes 10 years to build, the park is only open April 5 through October 7. And it’s amazing.

Here a quick idea of the themed borders…

Unexpected history nearby

Helmets (Photo credit: GregPC)

Are you a home historian? An amateur archeologist?

Well, –I must admit– I am. I truly love to talk about history, interpretend facts and figures and make up stories when I’m at historical locations. I like to watch docs on ancient battles like on BBC or History Channel. And I’m totally addicted to visit monasteries. I even tried to start a blog on the subject. It’s probably the boy in me.

Yet, sometimes I make a real discovery.

This time I’ve found the remains of a giant castle

Echinacea stole my heart

You must have a favorite flower. Everybody does. Some love tulips or sunflowers, others melt with the scent of roses. For me they are too average. It’s Echinacea or Cone Flower that stole my heart. They just do it for me. I think they are embedded in our genes since every child draws a coneflower if they are asked to draw a flower. They are the flowers amongst flowers. Their fair shaped paddles, their bright colors, their yellow to brown cones. They resemble the architype of a flower.

Echinacea have a long history of being

Oudolf’s Gardening Inspiration

If you spend a lot of time in your garden, you know: Gardening is therapeutic. It liberates, revitalises and de-stresses. Whether it’s the flowers, the green or the dirt, the humming of the bees or the combination of these facts, we will never know. Being outside, picking weeds, seeing flowers bloom and seasons shift, I think it’s fantastic. You recreate nature to indulge in its beauty.

One man who is currently a rising star in landscaping knows how to recreate nature. This weekend I’ve visited his gardens in Hummelo, the Netherlands. It’s a must see for garden fanatics. His view on gardening with unimaginable combinations of

Brocantes and Such Hunt

Who said Alladin is not gay? Look at him in his girly underwear.

Brocantes is a French hobby that attracks a lot of tourists. Some people just love to run from one to the other to find a cheap bowl or the best bargain. I’ve set up this quick list with the best sites. Asking your local neighbors is useful as well… sometimes they simply kill a brocante if they don’t have enough participants.

To find something near Supergites… We’re in the Ardennes, that’s 08. Near by is northern 51 and 55…

Happy Hunting…

• Info-Brocantes
• Le Petit Chineur
• Vide-Greniers
• Brocabrac
• Antiquites en France

Appeltern’s Gardening Walhalla

Are you –like me– always looking for gardening inspiration? I’ve ignored the poring rain this weekend and decided to go and see it the source of my Pinterest flower pictures. I went to see the true Gardening Walhalla in the middle of the Netherlands, only one hour drive from Amsterdam. It’s called the “Gardens of Appeltern“. Over 200 sample gardens, some great some just silly, show endless ideas for border combinations, pavement concepts, terraces, furniture and art. On their site they state: