So we’ve been staying at Olmares with Richard and Suzanne for a bit over 3 months. Now we’re on our way back to the UK for about a month – a long time to be away from the veg patch!
It’s been a pretty amazing summer. We’ve hardly achieved any of the things we had planned to do, but I don’t feel bad about it. We’ve learned a bit about growing food, helped around the gardens, got to know the area a little and picked up a smattering of Spanish.
I’m not sure we’re any closer to buying a place of our own or getting our project started, but we’ve got a pretty clear vision of how it’s going to work now. Months of browsing the internet and learning about permaculture and building techniques have shown us the kinds of things that are possible with a lot of hard work and a good idea of what you want.
Yesterday we did an epic tour of Asturias with Mary the estate agent. Asturias is the county to the west of where we’re staying. It is very different from the Picos de Europa mountains, but beautiful in its own right. Asturias is a mountainous region with lots of native broadleaf woodland dotted with small pastures and red-roofed villages nestled in the rolling hillsides. One of the pieces of land we went to see is a possibility – with any luck it will still be on the market when we return and we can go for a second viewing.
There are still a lot of hurdles to cross – registering our car in Spain, applying for residency and buying a property to name a few! And of course once all of the tedious bureaucracy is over and we have a place to call home, we will only be at the very beginning of the next chapter. But that’s one I’m looking forward to a lot.
Here are some of my favourite memories from the summer (lots of them are food!)…
for people. for nature. 