We had a great week in Belgium. Leuven is an exciting city, Brussels not far away. we loved the bike paths. Everything was available in the house and we immediately felt at home

We spent a great time at Marijke and Simon's home. They provided lots of helpful information, had everything we needed ready and helped us with good tips during our stay. The house is really big and has a charming style, the garden is also a lot more spacious than the photos suggest. We especially loved the great variety of board games and the ice cream maker. It's a good place to get to know Belgium and it is super close to Brussels and there is even a direct train connection to the Oostende on the North Sea coast. We also spent many days in Leuven itself and even in the neighborhood with the Abbey park and Provincedomein Kessel-Lo - a big park that offers lots of sports, huge playgrounds and activities like rowing boats or mini golf, which are very affordable. It was a great experience and our first official house swap. We are looking forward to the next one already - so many advantages compared to 'normal' travels.

We had a wonderful week in Leuven! Our three kids loved the beautiful garden with lots of space to run around, the superb collection of toys. We spend some quality hours of fun in the beautiful town, biking around everywhere, which was so easy!, ate our way through every single waffle and fries vendor and fell in love with the nice and nearby recreational park just around the corner. We adults loved the castle of Marijke and Simon and felt truly home away from home. They provided a very kind welcome (we even found the fridge prepared with everything for a great dinner and the recipe to prepare ist) and super travel recommendations for the near surroundings and also for more distant activities. It always was easy to communicate with them. Even though we (unfortunately) haven´t met in person, we are very glad that we got to know such a great and welcoming family.

We had a great time swapping home with Marijke, Simon and their three small children. The house in very well located in a very calm neighborhood, just in front of an Abbey. By bike, which where available, it takes only 10 minutes to the inner city of Leuven. The house itself is very nice and plenty space is available, and a nice big garden, too. Plenty of board games where available. Simon prepared a very exhaustive and helpful home and tourists guide, which explains very detailed how things work at home, and the best places to visit. Communication was excellent and always very quick. It was a lovely and uncomplicated exchange. Belgium is always worth a visit, both because of lovely places and Museum to visit, but also because it is simply in the heart of Europe. Everything is nearby. Our highlight were • The city centre of Leuven, with the fantastic city hall and the beautiful cathedral • Leuvens Park Abbey with its unique stucco work on the library ceiling • Antwerp, with its harbor • The city of Aachen with the cathedral of Charlemagne and the thermal baths • The Belgian beer, especially in the nearby restaurant of the Vlierbeek Abbey Thanks to the comfort and beauty of the house and its garden, and the kindness of the owners, we have spent a wonderful holiday in the heart of Europe.

Dear Simon and family, we had a great Easter holiday in your home. We really enjoyed your spacious house and the gigantic garden where the kids spent hours on the swings. We also tried quite a few of your numerous board games and the kids were also really happy with selling lots of ice cream =o) It was a pleasure visiting Leuven with the bikes you provided. It's so nice and easy to reach the city center with the bikes in no time. We also took the bus once, which is perfect as well. There are so many nice places to visit around Leuven and the online guide you programmed for your guests is a really big help. We had a great time in Provinciedomein where we would have loved to spend more time on a sunny day. But also the forests nearby are worth a visit. It was so nice chatting with you during our stay and also over the past years when our exchange wasn't possible due to COVID. Thank you so much for everything, we will keep the exchange and all of you in good memory. Best wishes from your friends in Steinen

we had a lovely time in Kessel-Lo; Simon and Marijke have a very spatious house, a nice garden and lots of toys for the kids to discover. We enjoyed the area very much, went for a beautiful walk in the woods of the Chartreuzenberg and had a bicycle trip in the neighbourhood. The bikes were perfectly adjusted for our three kids, super! The abbey and provincial domain right next to their house is very nice to enjoy. They left our home very tidy and clean and treated us to a nice fruitcake when we came home - yummie. Many thanks !! Stefan, Hannah, Marthe, Tiebe and Arne

We felt very welcome in this really large house! Even our large car fittet in the garage. Everything verything you need is already there! The house is a very good location in leuven: Direct across the abby with a small and really good restaurant. Behind the abby is a large parc for wonderful walks even with kids because there are many playgrounds, a small official pool (booked while our stay because corona so we could not test), a little traffic training area for the little ones with kettcars or bikes. Easy to spend the afternoon there... In 7 min on comfortable bicycle path you reach the wonderful middle of the city Leuven. It is worth to visit the town because of the wonderful buildings, the unesco world heritage St. Pieter church and the many little shops, café and nice people. We also visited the beach near De Haan (only 1,5h by car) and enjoyed it very much. Simon and Marijke communication was excellent both in the month leading up to our exchange and during. The link Simon gave us explained most of our questions to the house and the surrounding. We visited belgium for the second time and we are still in love with the country, the friendly people and the wonderful different landscapes in such a small country... Our house was clean by our return. The garden was in a good condition (and it was really hot...) Even we did not visit Brussel or Antwerpen (because of corona) we had some real good bike tours direct started at the house. A wonderful swap! Thank you Simon and Marijke