About us

We are happy to introduce ourselves.

Sophie

Sophie ('89) grew up in Bunschoten (NL) and was living in Utrecht when she met Ilona. Her love for animals arose at an early age. In fact, there were always pets in her life. Cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and even a duck. Sophie always dreamed of a big family. That dream has come true.

Our
Story

And where the love of animals came from.

Ilona

Ilona ('88) grew up in Kortenhoef (NL) and was living in Hilversum when she met Sophie. At home with her parents she had rabbits and, after years of nagging, finally a dog, Jip.
When she turned 22 she bought her first own Shetland pony, Jerom. Her dream was to have horses at home. This dream came true.

How it all began

Our Fair Life Ranch was born when we moved from Utrecht to Doezum in Groningen in 2019. The deciding factor for this move was the fact that we wanted our horses Cee and Ghetto and our shetland ponies Jerom and Bram to live near home. Living in the country and the adventure of a new environment also attracted us. Besides our horses and shetlanders, our two cats Paco and Harvey and our guinea pigs Teunis and Saga moved with us. The rabbit Humphrey Bogart also moved with us. He temporarily took up residence with the guinea pigs.

After our arrival in Doezum our "livestock" multiplied rather quickly. Soon you can find everything about it on this site!

Bram, Cee, Ghetto and Jerom at there paddack paradise in Doezum

Photos of those who moved with us

From July 2019 to January 2023, we lived with more and more animals on our farm in the Netherlands. Watch and read along with our best, most moving and happiest moments from our lives back then.

Twice we turned our lives around. First with leaving the so familiar middle of the Netherlands for the north of the Netherlands. In retrospect, it seems like an exercise for the bigger picture: emigrating from the Netherlands to Portugal.

Our Fair Life Ranch in the Netherlands

We were on holiday in Nerja, Spain, in February 2019. Sitting on the beach, we decided together that we were ready for a change. Being able to look after the horses at home was a dream for Ilona. A dream we might be able to fulfil very soon if we moved to an area where house prices were significantly lower than in the middle of the Netherlands.
In May that same year, we signed the purchase contract for our farm in Doezum. The great adventure could really begin when we received the key on 4 July and the farm really was ours.

The moment we signed for the farm, we already knew there had to be a dog. A farm needs a dog and we had plenty of space. As we really wanted to adopt a dog from a shelter, we searched every Dutch website. Unfortunately, the dogs we came across did not meet our requirements. For example, the dog had to be able to live with cats and horses. We also wanted a dog that was familiar with being around children. This was because many of our friends at that time already had young children. When we came to the conclusion that there was no dog for us in the Netherlands, we looked for a foundation that rescues dogs in other countries. This is how we came across Stichting Hondenzorg en Welzijn. This is where we found Thor. A black dog with a food intolerance, we soon found out. The staff's expectation was that he would not be adopted quickly as he was big, black and more expensive than average. He had been tested with cats and children and met our requirements. We were instantly in love! On 30 July, Zorro came home to us in the Netherlands.

In August, our first chickens arrived at the farm. We had picked two roosters ourselves at the farm where our horses lived before the move. We also received, this was neatly agreed with us, two hens and a rooster as a gift from friends of Ilona.

With the arrival of Zorro, Humphrey and the chickens, we had a very nice collection of animals.

The animals in a row:

Horses: Cee and Ghetto
Shetland ponies: Bram and Jerom
Cats: Harvey and Paco
Guinea pigs: Teunis and Saga

Rabbit: Humphrey Bogart
Dog: Zorro
Roosters: James Dean, Clint Eastwood, Gerard
Hens: Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bourdeau.