We are Iulia, a Romanian advertising executive and writer, and Alistair, an Englishman from the North East and retail designer. We left our busy London lives behind in November 2017, when we purchased Maison de la rivière, a property we both fell in love with at first sight. We brought our cat, Heathcliff, along from London and we acquired Filou, our mountain dog wolfhound cross, at a car-boot sale in April 2017. We love nature, long walks, animals, fishing, yoga, writing and cycling.
We have, since then, lovingly renovated the old farmhouse into the beautiful and welcoming space that it is today. Our vision for Maison de la rivière is for it to be a oasis of calm and tranquility, where you can reconnect with yourself and replenish your energy. We want to offer you the privacy you need, but we are always on site with help and suggestions if required.
Our animal Family:
Filou is our mountain dog wolfhound cross who joined our family in April 2018 at a car-boot sale. He is a wonderful, loving boy who likes to play football, swim in the river and race with the horses. He is extremely good with children, although a bit overly excited at times, but if you want the kids busy, just give them the ball and send them out to play with Filou.
In 2023, we have rescued two female donkeys, unaware that one of them was pregnant. In February 2024, she gave birth to baby Rioja, but the mother refused to nurse her. We had no choice but to bring Rioja (aka Donkey) in the house and to bottlefeed her until she was strong enough to live outside with the others. We learnt a lot about donkey health, personality and best baby nappies for donkey use. It had been a difficult but extremely rewarding time and she is now a happy healthy little madam. The donkeys are also in the company of senior horse Gringo, who is like a father to our Rio.
When we first moved to Maison de la rivière we also inherited three goats. They all passed away since, but our family of goats has acquired three more members: Buddy (who always gets into trouble and destroys everything he can get his horns or hooves on), Onyx and Opal who was born with a defect to her front her leg, but is a smart and happy little girl. Despite being a destructive force of nature, Buddy is a good friend to our dog, Filou, and can often be found playing together, chasing one another in the field.
Our London cat, Heathcliff, is a rescue boy from Battersea Cats and Dogs and will be mostly busy hunting mice around the chicken coop or sleeping the day away in our bedroom. He usually tries to avoid all the animals on the farm, so if you come across him, it will be a rare sighting. He is a gentle and rather shy cat who will most likely run away.
Our other cat, Lilly, a stray tabby who moved in with us a few years ago, will be more likely to say hello, though she can be shy too.
When we don’t have our hands full with our permanent residents, we sometimes foster dogs via the rescue association Les Amis Des Animaux or look after friends’ dogs. What can we say, we just love animals!
