We just renovated our house last year with the help of architects, in a loft style. We widened windows and added new ones to bring more light and used a lot of wood to create a cosy atmosphere. Space is optimized to satisfy the needs of a family of 5 with 3 young children. On the ground floor, we have an office (also used as gestroom) and a large 50+ sq meters open kitchen and living room with a large window to the garden. We use a wood stove during winter and have a central gas heating system. When the weather is nice there is the opportunity to have a meal in the garden (BBQ). There are two bedrooms and a bathroom (shower) on the first floor. The master bedroom has its own terrasse (20+ Sqm) wtih a sauna. On the second floor there is a large open space for children to play, paint... The sleeping space (2) is on a mezzanine and there is a bathroom with a tub. Our street is very quiet (houses with gardens) and the neighbourhood friendly. The house is equiped with state to the art cooking devices (steam oven) and hi-fi.

Our house is situated in a small road just on the border between two suburbs of Paris: Vincennes and Montreuil. You can either enjoy the unconventional side of Montreuil where many artists live and work and where young families decide to renovate houses or old production plants; or walk around in Vincennes which is more traditional and benefits from a newly renovated pedestrian city center. From where we live you can do everything by feet (or bike): shopping (organic supermarkets), movies, sports, public swimming pool, parks.... In only 8 min. by bike you reach the big woods of Vincennes with lots of outside activities, the botanic garden and cultural events. And then of course you have Paris! You can reach downtown of Paris by train in only 12 min. (station is 5 min. walk), or with the two metro lines (10 min. walk). Paris is not only a historic or cultural highlight. You can reach from here several nice places in the country side nearby: Versailles, the castels of Loire, Champagne region... and the sea is a 3 hours drive away. We do have camping equipement for the whole family which is a good possibility to have short trips in the country side.

Preferrably during school vacations. In Europe also possible for week-ends.

Martinique July 2012. Open to any other destination at other times.

We are a family of five. Rodolphe (40) is just about to start his own business combining his passion - sustainable developpment - and internet. Katrin (41) is in charge of the children and works as a coach when time allows it. The children are Noé (9), Anna (7) and Tim (5). Our family is franco (Rodolphe) - german (Katrin). We do enjoy to live so close to an exciting city like Paris and at the same time near gardens, parks and woods. We go to Paris for exhibitions, museums, restaurants, special shops, cultural or musical festivals... We get our "fresh" air in the woods, on biking tours on the river Marne (where you can do some cayaking as well) or in the parks. Of course we do a lot of activities with the children: basket ball, swimming, skating, tennis, theaters, in-door climbing - everything is possible nearby. We do love to travel and to discover other places in the world. Our next dream is to "skip the ocean" and to visit a place on another continent. And last but not least we enjoy very much our "lazy days" at home: books, games, sauna, painting....! We do have a nice family cat: "Sunny".

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