“The creation of the Castelwood holiday village is first and foremost a family story.
It begins in the Netherlands where we lived, it goes through a thirteen-year stopover in New Zealand, where our two daughters were born, and it takes place today in the south-west of France: in the Dordogne.
We are Ian and Maaike.
And we started the Castelwood adventure in 2003.”
From camping to holiday rentals
We have always loved tourism because we like to welcome people.
Before, we had a 4-star camp-site in the Lot-et-Garonne. Then we created a leisure park with gardens and an educational farm.
In 2003, we discovered what would become Castelwood: an exceptional forest, with many species of trees. We started to build cottages.
From design to manufacture, these small chalets emerged in the woods, respecting the forest as much as possible, so as not to hinder the wildlife.
In 12 months, we build 11 cottages, and open for the first season in 2005. In 2007, we added 4 other chalets to the park.
The 2019 season sees yet another type of construction: our superior chalet, a tree house, which provides a magnificent view of the castle Biron.
And finally, in the winter of 2021, we added our 3 confortable safari tents in the heart of the forest, elevated on platforms.
A family story
This adventure was achieved with the help of our daughters.
The first, Marsha, lives in New York and gave us in 2006 a beautiful little girl, Ruby. The second, Jaya, travelled all over the place, working for NGOs. She joined us in 2012 and she gave us, too, a another wonderful granddaughter, Charlie. They live on the domain.
Jaya deals with the management of the domain with us.
Our company is family owned and it looks like us.
We are travellers, tri lingual and quadrilingual, and love to live in this region of adoption that is the Dordogne.
We will share with you the secrets we’ve discovered here.
An eco-responsible approach
The forest around us inspires us and preserving the environment is a daily concern for us. We take a series of measures to maintain the calm and beauty of the place.
Are you ready to be part of this adventure? Discover our special accomodations.
See you soon !
Ian, Maaike and Jaya.
