My husband Neville is an engineer and I'm a Chartered Accountant - both with our own businesses in the UK, so we love the chance to get away from work pressures and relax at our ocean front condo in New Smyrna Beach. Even our adult twins still want to come on vacation with us every year.

Liz purchased this condo in 2000

When the twins were small, we had a little condo in Orlando - great for visiting Theme Parks, but not much else. One day we saw an ad for New Smyrna Beach and thought that it would be good to take the kids to the beach for the day - little knowing that we were going to fall in love with the place and end up buying here. From the moment we arrived we felt at home - the people are so friendly, you feel totally safe (crime is low here) and the beaches are amazing - white sand, beautiful shells, clean and spacious - and we knew we'd have to come back. We researched the type of properties available and decided we liked Bethune Beach best - it's at the quiet end of New Smyrna Beach, close to Canaveral National Seashore and with the ocean on one side of us and the river across the road. We chose a ground floor oceanfront condo - so the kids could run in and out to the pool (although we have subsequently also bought a 4th floor unit in the same building - the views from there are fantastic) and set out to make it our second home, but one that we'd share with other vacationers.

When we stay here we can choose to either relax in the condo (there's plenty of books here) or by the pool; we walk on the beach and just enjoy the peace with only the sound of the waves - watching the surfers or the sea birds or looking at some of the beautiful oceanfront houses; or we go across the road and watch the dolphins feeding and the pelicans joining in. You can hire kayaks to venture out into the river - or book 'ecotours' by boat - it's a fisherman's and bird watcher's paradise out on the river.

There's a restaurant across the road (amazing sunset views from there); a bait and tackle shop for quick snacks - or a Publix a few miles down the road. Orlando is only a hour away to drive - but a lifetime away in the pace of life. Whilst the Theme Parks are only a few minutes past Orlando, we haven't visited them for years, we just can't drag ourselves away from here! Occasionally we'll go to the shopping mall at Daytona - but we're always glad to get back to the beach.