As a young boy growing up in Holland, he fantasised that the cows on a farm on the other side of the neighbourhood were his.
When he was not doing that, he was "running around with a book and a notebook pretending to be a really important businessman".
Since moving to New Zealand 10 years ago, Mr van Smirren has managed to combine those two passions.
He lives with his partner on a 9.7ha property at Tokarahi, in the heart of rural North Otago, about 40km from Oamaru, and he could not be happier.
He inherited his father's interest in horses - his father was a mounted policeman in Holland - and the couple have three horses, as well as cattle.
Describing himself as a mobile accountant, Mr van Smirren has a truck and accounting knowledge ready to be of service to businesses, self-employed or rental property owners.
Making the decision to emigrate to New Zealand was not difficult for Mr van Smirren.
A decision that felt right was not hard, he said.
He became captivated by the country when visiting a friend who was born in Christchurch and later returned to New Zealand to live.
As he stepped off the aeroplane, he thought, "This is it."
Not wanting to live in the city any more, he spent three months living in Christchurch and travelled, checking out possible properties to buy.
"I just liked this place, the energy of it, the quietness," he said, of the Tokarahi property.
Home for Mr Smirren was very important, and he wanted a place that was both peaceful and restful.
For the first few years, he helped on farms with a variety of jobs that included tailing lambs, fencing, building yards and milking cows. While he was "incredibly inexperienced", he had a lot of fun.
Then it was back to more familiar territory, a job auditing in Timaru, which involved commuting north each day, but that did not bother him because he was used to travelling in Holland.
He was then a supervisor at TaxRefunds.co.nz and district supervisor for the 2011 census, which ended up not being held because of the Christchurch earthquake.
Then Mr van Smirren started putting business cards in a supermarket, advertising his accounting services, and he was surprised how the business started to grow.
Offering tax and accounting services and business advice, he could meet clients when and where it suited them.
It also provided him with "huge flexibility", and he could combine work with lifestyle.
He could still fit in feeding out to his animals and sometimes worked late at night in his home office.
Mr van Smirren said he would "never stop dreaming" and, in the future, he was keen to see both his accounting practice and his farm size grow.
