Marianne and Rien live on the water
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Living on the water
A holiday feeling every day
Trees rustling gently in the wind. Rippling water. Whistling birds. The park with leafy paths opens onto a large pond. Here lies the ABC waterfront home of Rien de Kloet and Marianne Kramer from Lelystad. From the living room, you look right out over the water. Enjoy the most fantastic skies. 'We have a holiday feeling every day.'
Hidden among the greenery
As soon as you leave the street, turn onto the grass and walk towards their floating home, you already get that feeling. There is a wide, sturdy bridge over the water and it opens onto a decking, which lies against the house. Like standing on the water. In the middle of nature. Hidden among the greenery. In the new housing estate Warande, on the southern edge of Lelystad, there are a total of eight floating houses on the Torenvalktocht, built on Urk by ABC Waterwoningen. The houses are 1 metre higher than polder level. In Flevoland, we live on average more than 4 metres below sea level.
Huge window
Through half a flight of stairs (the floating home is split level), you emerge into the spacious living room with kitchen. With a huge sliding door to the ground, half a floor below. Here, Rien and Marianne have made a long bench so they have an unobstructed view outside. The concrete structure is up to 1.20 metres below water level and accommodates two more rooms, a bathroom, great room and the technical room.
Chasing dreams
Rien left busy Amsterdam for Lelystad in 2000 - after half a century. Together with his wife Marianne, he went after his dream: building his own house. In the neighbouring Landstreken neighbourhood. 'At least you can still buy land in Lelystad for a normal price,' Marianne says. Rien adds: 'And we could build our house entirely according to our own design. We only had the piles driven, otherwise we did everything ourselves.'
Accessible
A lovely place to live, they had no intention of moving. Until another fun project came along: the floating homes in Warande. Built through Collective Private Contracting. 'It struck me again how accessible the municipality was, and how quickly you got in touch with the right people,' Rien reflects.
Unique place by the water
They feel at home here. Enjoy their unique place by the water to the full every day. Experience the seasons very consciously. It can be quite a storm here,' says Rien. When it storms, the waves crash over our terrace against the sliding doors. A beautiful sight. Marianne: 'Then you only see the lights going back and forth slightly. Beforehand, I was afraid the house would wobble a lot and I would get seasick.
In the middle of nature
'We live in nature. The view, the sky: I love that. There is a lot to see. For example, a beaver regularly swims by.' Or Rien. He dives straight into the water from the terrace. The couple likes to be outdoors: Rien regularly cycles around Oostvaardersplassen or over the Knardijk. Marianne: 'We are still discovering new places. Take the little pond towards the Knarbos. Beautiful! Rien: 'We love living here. Fortunately, it's not so busy, we have plenty of space and fresh air.'
