2010 | It is not known how many Dutchmen own a 'maison secondaire' in the French countryside. An educated guess is between 200.000 and 300.000 houses. The book Huis in Frankrijk (A House in France) depicts the development of the Dutch invading the French countryside: buying French property, renovating an old farmhouse and starting a part-time life in France. 

Is all this aimed at compensating for something we miss in the Netherlands? If so, what are we looking for? And how can we see that these houses are Dutch owned? 

Sake Elzinga and Theo Baart were commissioned by Kasteel Groeneveld to go to France and to photograph 60 Dutch/French houses. Tracy Metz wrote an essay on this phenomenon. 

The issue of identity, adjustment and projection is best illustrated by the interiors of the houses. There we see the mix of two cultures with IKEA as a the subtle force of globalisation. That's why in this book, Theo Baart presents a selection of interiors depicting multiple venues.