Who are we ? Your hosts introduce themselves

Do you want to know more about Gîtes Kangourou Dinant ?

You are in the right place!

We tell you our story. Finally: that of Gîtes Kangourou Dinant.

We'll explain came about Dinant. And why it's named after an animal you really don't see in Dinant : the kangaroo. Dinant, as you know, is more the town where you'll find saxophones (on the Charles de Gaulle bridge, for example) or delicious pastries (in good bakeries). But kangaroos… No way! So why the name?

By telling you the genesis of this project, you will understand why this animal stood out… naturally.

Even to the point of choosing him as a mascot!

But before we tell you our story and the encounter with our mascot, allow us to introduce ourselves… in a slightly playful and quirky way, through a Proust questionnaire.

Who are we ? Your hosts!

Our vision, at the basis of the Gîtes Kangourou Dinant project

This holiday cottage project is based on an initial visionshared by Anne and Marc. However, it's far removed from typical tourist rentals…

Our initial vision, in fact, was to find a place to allow for family reunification. 

More precisely, it was a question of finding a place where Michel, Anne's adoptive brother and Marc's brother-in-law, could come and live, close to his sister.

Michel's wish? live on a ground floor with a garden (Michel doesn't have a green thumb: he has both green fingers!).

So, initially, our search focused on a house in Dinant, but not too far from the one we currently live in. We'll explain why soon.

For several years, we looked for a place where Michel could settle, not too far from us. We scoured the classified ads on the web, created automatic alerts to be informed as soon as a property was put up for sale in the city of Dinant. And we quickly lost count of the houses, land and even apartments visited in the region! None met our criteria.

Before explaining to you how we found the house which houses our two gîtes, let us further clarify the contours of this family reunification project. You will better understand our search criteria.

What does this family reunification project actually consist of?

Our project was – and still is – to create a special type of dwelling: a kangaroo home.

To understand how a kangaroo habitat works, imagine the marsupial. Even if it is not common to come across one in Belgium, you can easily picture it: standing on its hind legs, sometimes with the head of a young kangaroo sticking out of the animal's ventral pouch.

That says it all: a kangaroo home is a dwelling that often includes two living units nested one inside the other. 

And the occupants of one of the two living units supervise the occupant of the other living space. Because the occupant of the second dwelling (a single person or a couple) is not (or is no longer) able to independently meet all the needs of daily life.

This is where Michel, Anne's brother and Marc's brother-in-law, comes in. Michel faces daily challenges that require the support of loved ones. Currently, Michel lives and works in Brussels, 65 km from Dinant. He resides in the Belgian capital, in the home of his adoptive mother (Anne's mother).

Anne has committed to taking over from her mother to take care of her adopted brother, in agreement with the other members of the siblings. With the support of Marc, too, and, of course, the wish of Michel.  

For Michel, coming to live in Dinant is a logical step in his life. For many years he has come regularly, every year, to spend a few days in Dinant. It's a place where he feels good.

Looking for a place to create kangaroo housing

You will agree: it is not overnight that you can create a kangaroo dwelling type living space.

First, you need a suitable house. 

Next, it's a matter ofadapting it to this objective of family reunification. Because it's unlikely that you'll find THE house that's immediately compatible with the project. That is to say, finding a dwelling that already contains two independent living units.

Without forgetting the other aspects induced by the purchase of a house, such as insulation or compliance with current construction standards.

We searched. Wevisited many places. Without success.

And then one day… an advertisement caught our eye. It was posted on the garage door of a house… next door to ours! The deal was finalized with the seller quite quickly: our family reunification project convinced him.

So, after exploring Dinant in every direction, we finally found what we were looking for just a stone's throw from home!

Splendid coincidence, isn't it?

And what about the holiday cottage project in all of this?

From kangaroo accommodation to Gîtes Kangourou, tourist accommodation in Dinant

Gîtes Kangourou are not accommodation… kangaroo!

While waiting to fully realize the kangaroo housing project, we have therefore decided to share our vision with you, by temporarily transforming our house into two separate cottages.

Each of the two cottages offers its occupants a haven of comfort and serenity.

As part of our tourist rental business, there is of course no supervision or dependence of one accommodation on another. 

The guests of the two cottages are completely independent of each other.

We kept the name "kangaroo accommodation" for our holiday rental. Now you understand why it was a natural choice to give this name to our guesthouse project. This name embodies our vision at the heart of the project.

We also maintain the "kangaroo home" philosophy that guides our holiday rental business: welcoming and advisingwhile respecting your independence and privacy. We are available should you need anything, but we want you to feel completely at home during your stay.

Not kangaroo accommodation, of course… but two lodgings with the spirit of kangaroo accommodation

Of course, each of the two gîtes can be rented separately. And each of the two lodgings is independent. If you rent one of the two gîtes, you benefit from your private spaces and your privacy.

However, some areas are common to both cottages :

• • the laundry room, in the cellar
  • the bicycle (or motorcycle) garage, in the cellar
  • the pleasure garden at the back.
  • the barbecue area and the terrace which adjoins it

We did not want to individualize these spaces. This doesn't really make sense, regardless of practical matters.

For these common spaces, we also did not want to set and impose rules or reservation schedules.

We expect that the occupants of the cottages will use these spaces harmoniously. In hindsight, we have found that this sharing of spaces poses no problem when both cottages are occupied simultaneously.

We also realized that the two cottages offer excellent accommodation for family holidays or groups of up to six people. It's indeed possible to host two families who wish to share convivial moments while still maintaining their own private spaces. We've even planned an option to rent the entire house, combining both cottages.

Open the door: welcome to the guests of Gîtes Kangourou Dinant

Now you know about the family solidarity project that is at the heart of Gîtes Kangourou.

We invite you to discover these two cottages and spend some pleasant moments there . We furnished these two accommodations for ourselves (in the future) with you in mind!

If you would like to discover us from an original (and a little offbeat) angle, we invite you to discover our answers to a revisited Proust questionnaire below!

Want to know more about kangaroo habitat?

You will find many resources on the internet regarding the concept of kangaroo housing.

We have selected these two resources for you:

– a presentation of kangaroo housing and a list of housing of this type in Wallonia and Brussels (in Belgium), on the Habitat groupé solidaire website, created at the initiative of the non-profit organization Habitat & Participation.

– an article on kangaroo housing, as a solution for housing elderly people, proposed by the non-profit organization Liages.