Labour of love

If it hadn’t been for the cheerful optimism of her father-in-law, Marjolein de Gooijer and her husband, Jankees might well have passed up the opportunity to buy this former vicarage in the village of Helenaveen in the north of the Netherlands. ‘It had been up for sale for quite some time, with potential buyers losing interest when it became clear just how much work was involved,’ says Marjolein. ‘Luckily for us, Jankees’s father, who is a brilliant handyman, was with us when we viewed the place and his stock response was, “Sure, that can be done, no problem!” to every problem we encountered as we walked around.’

‘We could see that