ABOUT US
We are a family with 5 children, ranging from 1,5 to 23 years old. We live in Andalusia, Spain, since 2006. We try to live in a conscious and responsible way. Making informed choices and educating our children with a sense of connection to themselves and the world around them. They are fluent in three languages: English, Spanish and Dutch, which has made them open to different cultures and peoples.
Stephen, a maker of fine Spanish hand-made guitars, has known since the age of 17 he wanted to be a luthier. Growing up on one of the first organic farms in the UK from 1976 he gained much knowledge of soil husbandry and care for the land. From 1987 he dedicated his life to making guitars and runs a busy workshop in Spain making bespoke instruments and also teaching the art of guitar making to students from around the world. He has the innate ability to create community around him, through his work. First in Lewes in the UK and later on in Spain he has a circle of apprentices and former students who have become makers after studying with Stephen.
Marjolein, a Tibetan yoga teacher and reflexology practitioner, has first pursued a corporate career in The Netherlands after getting a degree in International Business Administration and upon moving to Spain has switched her focus completely and started her education in the ancient knowledge of self-healing practices from Tibet and complemented this later with a new form of clinical reflexology called Duopody. She runs her own practice in La Herradura and organises courses for people from all over the world.
Having gained experience in running a permaculture school garden in the local public school in La Herradura and later another organically run large vegetable garden with some others, we learned a lot about teaching the principles of harmony with nature and permaculture. In his early adulthood Stephen already gained experience building and restoring with ancient old techniques in Italy and applied these methods later also on rebuilding his little mountain house in Spain, that served as his workshop.
With our project we want to reach out to the community around us, both locally and internationally, to create a new future in living and working, and to that end we envision a center where we can run courses, bring people together and promote living in connection with nature.
Important to us is to have a minimum impact on the environment and to promote living in the most self-sufficient way possible.