March 2022

Two years ago, Will had the idea that we buy a small plot of land to slowly build a small home on, and slowly but surely, this idea is beginning to come to life.  The trip was postponed for personal reasons, but this month we went on our first trip to Catalonia, Spain, to view some of the plots. Many of the houses we found for sale were ruins built from stone from the ground, with thick walls that keep them cool in the summer. Some people in the area are building houses from cob, an ancient building material made from local earth.

 

This is a project to learn what is required of our homes, what we can grow, how to connect to water, how many solar panels it would take to power, and how much power we even use. This is going to be a project over a long time, and we will most likely be sorting rocks and materials on site for the first few years, but eventually I can't wait for this to be a space to invite artists to, to make, collaborate, build and learn.

 

We found some really special places, but we didn't find the perfect patch this time, they were all slightly big and we decided to start with something much smaller as our knowledge is so limited. We met some amazing local builders and carpenters on this trip who we are excited to work with. I’ve come back feeling so inspired, not only by the much loved mountains which were the perfect contrast to Amsterdam, but I can’t wait to get out there and start moving stuff around.