Despite many other offers, we chose to return to beautiful Brugge and Hilde and Luk’s delightful home for our first exchange after the troublesome past two years of Covid. It was like returning home! As Hilde and Luk are experienced Homelink members, a warm welcome awaited us - copious amounts of food, bread, milk, coffee etc. etc., and lots of information were provided. A supermarket and bakery (as well as the historic city of Brugge) are within walking distance of this immaculate, comfortable home. Brugge railway station (a short bus ride away) enables travel outside Brugge and special offers, eg Duo ticket (and reduction for over 65yrs) ensured economical travel. Everything we needed for a most enjoyable two and a half weeks! Upon return home, we found our home spotlessly clean and beautiful gifts waiting for us.

We hadden een fijne ruil met Hilde en Luk, een mooi huis op korte afstand van Brugge centrum, fantastisch. Maar ook de omgeving van Brugge is mooi, de polders en kanalen rondom zijn prachtig om per fiets te ontdekken. Een echte aanrader. Dankjewel. We had a nice exchange with Hilde and Luk, a beautiful house a short distance from Bruges center, fantastic. But the surroundings of Bruges are also beautiful, the polders and canals around are wonderful to discover by bike. Highly recommended. Thank you.

The fact that we keep returning to this exchange speaks for itself! We rarely return as we like variety, but the combination of exchanging with lovely Hilde and Luk, their beautiful, comfortable home and delightful Brugge is totally irresistible. The garden is always a delight but it was even more enchanting at this time of year with the amazing weather - sun from morning until night for most days! Everything was in full bloom, Jules the tortoise was basking in the warmth and enjoying the vegetation in his huge enclosure enjoying the bits of tomatoes and strawberries we gave him, the frogs in the pond played hide and seek with me behind the Lilly pads. Totally magical. Needless to say, as always, the house was immaculate and a warm waiting greeted us with details of the many events on during our stay. We were lucky to have a “shopping Sunday” during our stay. Traffic are banned from the centre and it makes for a very relaxed day. The annual Zummer Fest was a vibrant but extremely family-friendly event held in the Minnerwater Park and during our stay there was a world music festival in Astrid Park which lasted five days which again seemed very family friendly when we visited one afternoon. Hilde and Luk are experienced and first class exchange partners. Always helpful and highly respectful of our home. We cannot praise them, their home and romantic Brugge enough!

Many, many thanks once again Hilde and Luk for a delightful exchange. [We exchanged with Hilde and Luk two years ago and (despite preferring to explore new areas) we could not resist a second exchange this year (and the opportunity to house-sit in April!)]. Your exceedingly comfortable, elegant, welcoming, light and airy home provides the ideal base to visit the “Venice of the North” (cf Chris refers to Venice as “The Brugge of the South”!) one of our very favourite cities. As you know, we are used to sleeping in a very quiet village, so really appreciate your lovely quiet neighbourhood. Brugge is a fantastic transport hub for visiting all the major Belgium cities - the railway network is wonderful and very generous to seniors over 65 years of age (a significant reduction is provided, even if not of Belgian nationality). We have enjoyed day trips (by train) to Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Veurne, Liege, Korrijk, Hasselt and of course the coastal towns of Knokke, De Panne, Blankenberge, Ostend etc. and Ypres in France. The pretty villages of Damme and Lissewege are also favourites. We appreciate the pleasant walk along the canal into Brugge but are grateful for the three buses per hour which go to the centre via the railway station when we have a train to catch. A coffee and boterkoek from Panos at the station and we are all set for our journey. You are perfect exchange partners in every way. A spotlessly clean home awaited us and you ensured we returned to one when we returned home. Huge thanks for the exceedingly generous basket of goodies you left for us the enjoy in your home and for the beautiful gifts that awaited our return. We are looking forward to the June 2018 exchange that has already been agreed upon and hope we can meet up again next year because as well as enjoying your home, we thoroughly enjoy your company! Very best wishes for future exchanges, Lynn and Chris xx

We love the historic, picturesque and totally enchanting city of Brugge and Hilde's and Luk's home allowed us to explore and experience the delights while enjoying the significant comforts of their stylish home. We felt immensely welcomed into their home by contact prior to the exchange; the plethora of goodies left for our consumption upon arrival; the up-to-date information available on the area and the spotlessly clean, comfortable and inspiring environment. Our trip was enhanced (now we have both turned 65) by the generosity of the Belgian government who allow us oldies to travel, day-return, ANYWHERE in Belgium for 6 euros! Hence, several day trips were made (e.g. Brussels, Leuven, Ghent, Kortrijk, Knokke, Ostende and Blankenberge) from Brugge's well-appointed Railway Station - a short bus-ride or leisurely 20 min. walk away. What confirmed this, overall, as one of our most successful exchanges was actually meeting Hilde and Luk after our exchange - truly delightful people!