It is absolutely beautiful this time of the year at Chumbaria, with flowers, vegetables and fruits all growing abundantly. We had our first trial guests, even without mains electricity, which meant candles and cold showers!! A big thank you to Roe and Rodger for being great guests, giving very positive feedback and kindly donating to our rewilding fund. What a milestone for Chumbaria. This is what they said about their overnight stay.
“Last night we were fortunate enough to be Sarah and Steve’s first trial guests in their first lovingly restored houses. We were welcomed with a great feeling of warmth and hospitality and can thoroughly recommend a chill out stay at Quinta da Chumbaria – what a truly beautiful and peaceful experience – we could just feel the stresses of life melt away – quite incredible. We can’t wait to return and hopefully linger a little longer next time.”
After 9 long weeks we finally got mains water in the new houses. We did our last 2 days of filming for Help We Bought a Village season 3, which will be aired on National Television in the UK later in the year. We had our first 2 volunteers from Leiria, who are both really lovely and hard working. We’ve all worked really hard on the land, painting our house and dealing with a lot of paperwork. Last but not least, a special thank you to our dear friend Tony, who’s been here 2 weeks helping out. He’s done so many jobs that have been stacking up and he’s given me and Steve a much needed boost of energy and many laughs along the way. This is what he wrote at the end of his stay with us.
“Coming to the end of my 4th visit to the amazing Quinta da Chumbaria there’s always plenty to do here to keep me busy but it’s always a lot of fun, laughs and amazing food. Steve and Sarah are fantastic hosts and watching their village come back to life is not only incredible but very beautiful as well. I will definitely be back soon!”
Unfortunately it has also been another frustrating month regarding the utilities. Our electrician signed off his work on the 9th March and we started the process to get mains electric to the new houses on the 11th March. Bearing in mind we already have mains electricity running through the village and it was just a question of connecting the new houses which are less than 2 meters from the mains supply. However,15 long weeks since the start of the process we finally got mains electricity connected. It has been a very stressful 15 weeks. We have suffered emotionally, mentally and financially. We’ve both been through a lot since we arrived in 2020, but this month we came close to giving up for the first time. We won’t give up, but our batteries are running on low. We’ve decided to make a conscious effort not to keep stressing out about it and remind ourselves to enjoy the journey, even if that journey had unexpectedly come to a standstill!
So we have enjoyed spending time with friends and making connections with interesting new people. We have our good friend Tom here helping out which is great. Our volunteers finished their 2 week placement by connecting the irrigation pipes in the new flowerbed and many other jobs along the way. We really appreciate all of their hard work. Finally after 15 long weeks we have signed the electricity contract and it is going to be connected to the new houses next week. Hallelujah!!! It’s been a huge learning curve and test of our strength and resilience, but we’ve done it. This means we can finally say – We’ll be open for holiday rentals very soon!!! We can’t wait to welcome guests to Chumbaria and for them to enjoy spending time in our luxurious, unique and peaceful houses, surrounded by beautiful scenery. Where they can reconnect with nature, learn about sustainable living and explore the many, varied and beautiful places in this district that we are lucky enough to call home. We’ve waited such a long time for this, it doesn’t feel real, but we’re sure it will when we have guests enjoying stunning sunrises and spectacular sunsets. All in all a very proud week at Chumbaria and a testimony to the strength of our commitment to this amazing project and more importantly to each other.
Most importantly we had our first VIP guests to stay in both of the houses, probably the most important guests we’ll ever have. Me and Steve! We had 2 lovely nights in Casa da Eira and Casa da Rosária, we’ve checked everything works and we haven’t forgotten anything. Staying in there for the first time was a really amazing experience, the living hempcrete walls create a quiet and ambient atmosphere and just sitting looking at all the beautiful craftsmanship, set against stunning views was a real treat and felt like a huge achievement. We didn’t want to leave!
We also had an animal rescue adventure that started in June, but it’s coming up in the July Diary page
