About the
present owners and their renovation of the Château
Anticipating their
third stage in life, the Dutch couple Theo and Meta Vader developed
the idea to obtain an ancient wine farm in the sunny south of France
in order prepare it for their ‘life after retirement’.
They decided to settle
in the Gard department, not a fashionable or overcrowded area,
however in the civilised world with beautiful towns like Avignon,
Nîmes and Montpellier (TGV, 3 airports) which offer all required
logistical-, medical-, social-, and cultural infrastructure (TGV, 3
airports). Several Mediterranean seaside resorts are at less than a
one hour drive.
After thorough
investigation they decided to buy the Château de Saint Théodorit and
founded a Société Civile Immobilière. Later on, the couple Verhulst
joined in the enterprise.
Together they decided
to divide the Château in seven large residences and several communal
spaces, like the Salle de Garde, the Pigeonnier, the swimming pool,
winter garden, etc. The houses were to be sold after the renovation.
The present owners are:
Theo Vader (1946), physicist, university Delft/NL. Theo held several directorships
with Akzo-Nobel and Royal Shell/Billiton. In 2004 Theo retired and
became fulltime principal of the Château resurrection.
Meta Vader-Hofsteenge (1948), physician, university Utrecht/NL. Meta worked as a PHS
practitioner. More recently she founded her own translation bureau
(French & English).
Philip Verhulst
(1948), economist, university Nijenrode/NL.
Philip held board positions with Van Gend & Loos and Royal Nedlloyd Group
(logistics) before becoming managing partner of Boer & Croon
(consultancy).
Bernadette Verhulst-Janssens
(1947), trainend nurse, Rotterdam/NL.
After a career in hospital attendance, Bernadette participated in the
management of different care centres.