BLACKWOOD VALLEY

The dream of buying acres upon acres of wild woodland deep in the rural countryside first came about whilst enjoying a morning coffee with my girlfriend in a coffee shop on Koh Phangan, Thailand.

A spanner in the works

If someone had asked me what my dream lifestyle would look like before walking into that coffee shop, I would have described the life I was already living in Thailand - beachside condo, working remotely from a laptop, no alarm clock to wake up to and living the ultimate freedom lifestyle.

But that coffee changed everything.

Suddenly, all I could think about was buying a farm with land. Lots of land. My entire life became consumed by the thought of living a primitive, off-grid life in the middle of nowhere. Hunting wild game, growing my own vegetables, foraging from the land and cooking meals over a wood fire.

Fast forward three years

Finding land is one thing; navigating the legal system that allows you to actually live on the land can and did prove to be an entirely different story. With several costly failed attempts to purchase land in Portugal and very nearly giving up on our dream altogether, we decided to focus our attention on rural Spain.

When a dream becomes a reality

After a week of countless viewings and not finding anything suitable, we finally stumbled upon a farm that was not only way out of our budget, but it was also far more land than we could have ever imagined or intended to buy.

From the moment we set foot on the land, we knew we had to buy it. Logic went completely out the window - there were no discussions about how we could afford it, how we would maintain or manage it, or how we would build the essential off-grid infrastructure that would enable us to live peacefully on the land. Regardless of all the uncertainties that we faced, it felt right. So we took a leap of faith.

Welcome to Blackwood Valley

Blackwood Valley is our home, but with so much land, we decided we want to share the experience with other like-minded people who dream of pursuing an off-grid life. So we set out to combine our business knowledge and marketing backgrounds and build a vast wild retreat deep in the heart of the wilderness, enabling others to take a step back from everyday life and experience a more primitive way of life deep in rural Spain, away from the crowds, away from noise, and away from modern-day distractions.

And so the adventure begins