Blog: Evelien de Mey
"When, after a busy social day, we all flop down on the couch together and look out at the garden, I know for sure that we made the best choice."
Evelien de Mey was born and raised in Hulst. She left Zeeuws-Vlaanderen at the time for her studies. Now, almost 20 years later, she is coming back. With her husband Gert-Jan and three children.
Hulst is coming home. I have family in Hulst and Belgium and we regularly come here to visit grandpa and grandma. To see them again and to get away from home for a bit. Because of these visits, there has always been a connection between Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and our family.
And now that the big news we are moving (back) to Hulst is out, it feels to me as if peace is returning and all the above-average stimuli I experience here in the city are disappearing. For Gert-Jan, it's a bit stranger. We've been together for 18 years, so he knows Hulst and the area, but actually building something there is of course different. The decision to take this step is actually very logical. We have friends all over the Netherlands, so we already travel a lot. Living in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen will mean a bit of extra travel time, but that doesn't outweigh the peace of the surroundings and the space of the house.
Now, after a visit or a long workday, I come home to a dollhouse in Utrecht. Where we actually don't have space for everyone to find their own peace. Even when we have visitors, we get annoyed by our small city apartment (82m²). We prefer to meet at friends' houses. That's easy, because we have children. When we have visitors, our house bursts at the seams. That's why we often all go outside together and tack on a visit to a café or restaurant.
Desire to Move
The desire to move had been there for a while, but was hard to fulfill. Because we're not particularly attached to a location and we didn't really know what we wanted. When my parents said they wanted to downsize and would like to sell their house to us, I was shocked. It's quite a step, especially for Gert-Jan. I told him I had exciting news, and that he should sit down for it. Of course, he expected the worst, and to me it felt a bit like that too. It feels like he's making a concession to my world. My nerves were actually for nothing. He was immediately enthusiastic! The kids are excited too. Especially the oldest, who is very much a city kid. That will be interesting. But he's very social and there's plenty to do here. They're already signed up for daycare and scouting.
To be honest, it's a crazy housing market. We were able to make this move thanks to the well-known phenomenon: selling your house in the Randstad and moving to the countryside. With the surplus value from a city apartment, you can buy a house in a rural location. It's no different for us.
Balance
Our work and social lives are spread across the Netherlands (and Belgium). A lot can be done online. We both work as self-employed entrepreneurs based in Utrecht, but have clients throughout the country. The move to Hulst will bring us balance. We'll plan visits to clients better and might even stay overnight in the middle of the country sometimes. Soon, grandpa and grandma will literally live five houses down, and Gert-Jan's parents will come to babysit one day every other week. The kids will have space to play in a big backyard and we'll have room to pursue our hobbies. Gert-Jan loves cycling and thinks Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is a fantastic area for biking. I love the polders. I do like forests, but as soon as it gets too dark, I get claustrophobic. Give me the wide open spaces here in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen any day.
We will really miss a large public playground – one where you can also get a nice coffee and let your child play for an hour without worry. That's not here. Maybe I can look into that and do something for the public (green) spaces in our new neighborhood.
Of course, I will miss Utrecht. We've lived there for 15 years and experienced so much. But the prospect of enjoying our own house next summer, where we can all be free and have our own space, brings a big smile to my face. We love being social and already know people in Hulst we can definitely meet up with. The idea that we can have visitors is fantastic. And when, after such a busy social day, we all flop down on the couch together and look out at the garden, I know for sure that we made the best choice.
