What’s happening to us?

(The video below has English subtitles – if you don’t understand Czech, turn them on!)

We live in the Greek wilderness in the north of the Peloponnese. High up in the mountains, half an hour from the sea. In a cottage that isn’t connected to any utility networks.

With our three little ones (aged 7, 5 and 1). With the most wonderful neighbours far and wide. And with friends all around.

Amazing. Lively. Bubbling.

And very demanding…

Why are we asking for financial help?

We’ve just got through our first winter. The temperatures were similar to those in the Vysočina region of the Czech Republic, with occasional frost and snow. We’re at an altitude of 750 metres, surrounded by two-thousand-metre peaks. We have a small house on the plot – a former warehouse that no one has ever lived in. It has just one large room, which is where we now live. A brick building with unplastered walls, a concrete floor, single-glazed windows with gaps, a metal door, and no insulation anywhere. Only cold water runs. The indoor temperature in winter is around 10 degrees. When the heating is on, it’s only a fraction higher. Spartan conditions!(the ancient city of Sparta is just a stone’s throw away, ed.). We installed solar panels and a stove, and made all sorts of modifications. 

It was a harsh winter… Paradoxically, the children didn’t complain at all; they were wonderful. Probably because we consciously put thewellbeing of the familyfirst. Whenthe parents are happy, the children are happy too… Doing things slowly, not rushing, not being a slave to one’s dream. Strengthening relationships and beingtogether, rather than striving for a perfect environment. 

Thanks to all the building work done so far, we’ve reached our financial limit for this year. We don’t have the funds to improve the house any further this year. That’s why we’re asking for your support.

We have a big wish – to get through the coming winter indoors without a coat! Ifyou support us, it will be a truly WARM gift for us.

This is what we’ll do if we raise the money

We have friends here in the area, some of whom are skilled joiners, carpenters and builders. They have offered to help us for free with whatever is needed. And they reckon they could get it done before winter (i.e. by October/November). If we buy the materials, we can get started straight away. 

Specifically, we plan to:

1)Insulating the whole house.That is, a wooden frame around the external walls, filled with straw and clay. The same for the ceiling.

2)New windows and doors. Knocking throughnew openings in the walls and fitting everything in, a total of eight windows plus five doors.

3)Enclosing the terrace with a wall.This will create two new rooms – a small bedroom and a bathroom.

4)Floors!Partly wooden, partly earthen. All insulated.

5)Hot water!Sometimes you only realise the value of these things when you don’t have them… 

Of course – it seems that the budget for all this far exceeds the amount we’re asking for. But not quite. We’ve discussed everything with the local people (who are actually from all corners of Europe) and they know how to do things very cheaply. For example, we’ll use some older windows from recycling centres, the same with doors, and we’ll recycle old materials.

If we raise the amount, it’s realistic that everything on our list will become a reality.

Why did we actually head south?

We’ve lived together in the Czech Republic for the last ten years. In our opinion, it’s the most beautiful country to live in, in many respects. Looking at it from a bit of a distance, we don’t understand people who are constantly grumbling about something in the Czech Republic (of course – there’s always something to grumble about, let’s not deny it!). In our view, the Czech Republic is a paradise.

But – Marta is a pure-blooded Italian and blue-tinged blood flows through her veins… the sea! And there isn’t much of that in the Czech Republic just yet. If Marta were to die one day without having fulfilled her greatest dream in life (to live by the sea), that just wouldn’t do…

What does Michal think?“We have a wonderful life in the Czech Republic – comfort, peace, security. A lovely path all the way to retirement. But life has suddenly dealt us a completely different hand – and on it are things that have always appealed to me greatly and which go to the very core, to the true essence of existence.”

So we went for it.

We’re growing through discomfort. The children watch everything, soak it all up, copy it – we have no choice but to be as good as we possibly can. We fall flat on our faces and float on cloud nine. Hard graft alternates with nirvana. We’ll keep our fingers crossed… it’s balanced so far.

There’s plenty to talk about; we’ll definitely write about it all and share more, but that’ll be sometime in the future, when there’s a bit more space.

A technical aside… those rewards!

It’s the trend these days. It even has its own name:reward-based crowdfunding. In return for their donation, contributors receive a reward, ranging from small to large, depending on the amount contributed. We think that’s a nice idea. Supporting the creation of a CD and then going for a coffee with a band member… dream!

However – we don’t have any rewards. Instead, we’re offering… ourselves :-)

Come and hang out!

Anyone who contributes can come along! :-)

Well… to be honest… (we probably shouldn’t say this…) you can come even if you don’t contribute :-)

We have a hectare of land, with an apple and plum orchard, a walnut grove, a meadow, a river… plenty of places to pitch a tent and relax in the heart of nature. If you don’t mind really basic conditions, feel free to come along. Or come and help out. We often have volunteers from all over Europe; we host through the Workaway programme –you can find our profile here.

Right next door lives a lovely couple – Steven (from Belgium) and Chenny (from the Netherlands). They’ve been living here for twelve years and have built their own little piece of paradise here, completely from scratch. They’ve named itLiveloula. Natural buildings, several permaculture gardens, poultry farming… they’re professionals who now even teach in this field, organising workshops and seminars here. Without them, we wouldn’t even be here – at a certain point, we actually stopped looking for a good place and started looking for good people… Liveloula also takes on volunteers, though mainly for longer periods of several months. Liveloula hasits own website here. 

The nearest village is Seliana, home tothe legendaryRe-Green eco-centre; we too passed through there ten years ago as volunteers. A wonderful place with lovely people around. They also have excellent facilities there for courses and various events.

And then, of course, there is the whole of the Peloponnese, through which Greek history has passed… 

We see great potential in this place and have plenty of plans for the future to revitalise this valley and bring in more families, children and music.

It’s two and a half hours from Athens, from where there are trains and buses.

People and line-up:

Adults: Michal (CZ), Marta (ITA)

Children: Mia (7 years old), Elio (5 years old), Saša (1 year old)

Dogs, cats, lizards, dragonflies, newts. Ants in the bread bin and a pair of magnificent jackals across the stream. A very naughty mole who keeps eating our tomatoes!

The people around us. And people far away – like those reading this story right now. So they’re actually close by too. 

Thank you all for your support!

And we look forward to seeing you soon!