Jamie Farside

Hi William,

Sounds like you've got a project on your hands and plenty of animals to boot, no messing eh! I've recently started plodding around these forums looking for people moving to the backwoods of central Europe (currently siting in the South of France hand wringing whether to buy an abandoned mill in the Cevennes mountain range!) To get a feel for their experiences and also to try and find some of the smaller less established communities about. To be honest I haven't really considered Portugal. Guess I was just abit captured by your titles thread, I was really into Zerzan's ideas for some time. I've been living off grid for the last three years up North in Sweden, but looking to relocate to a warmer climate, for a bigger garden and the hope of a more like minded community.

How are you finding it out there, especially with regards to integrating with the community? Do you have any pictures you would be happy to share of your place? If not, I'm always happy to chat, and should I find myself down that way I'll be sure to say hi!

All the best,

Jamie

Hi,

I only recently came across this forum, (in-fact I'm new to forums in general apart from abit of lurking!) and pretty quickly stumbled onto this thread. I'm finding some really valuable insight on here.

I've been living off grid in Northern(ish) Sweden for the last three years with my partner. We live in a small log cabin situated on the end of a peninsular with access over a lake. We love being so deep in the wild but it comes with some serious challenges that make our long term goals of getting as close to self sufficiency as we can rather tricky. The biggest challenges being the short/tough growing season (we live in the mountains, situated in zone 3 where the snow melts in mid May and frosts in Aug aren't uncommon) as well as the remoteness of the location. Both for getting materials and for living with a feel of community. To Rosa Bo if your still planning a move to Sweden feel free to drop me a message I'll be happy to try and answer any questions you might have.

Anywho, for reasons stated above we're looking to relocate. Most likely to France, as my partner is French it makes some sense. Although we're open to new ideas, the goal of living somewhere well suited to growing, with lax or swervable building controls and a loose community of like minded people are of far greater importance than a spot on the map. Saying that we're currently looking at land in the Cevennes range, namely the Ardeche and the Gard, there seems to be a strong sense of interesting projects going on both above and below the radar. Property/Land can be abit on the steep side as it's a popular tourist destination, but there's certainly some places going for a very reasonable price.

As a number of other people have asked I was wondering if this conversation has led anywhere? Are people in contact? I would at least be interested to hear other peoples thoughts and findings on suitable areas. Feel free to message me.

Cheers.