Off Grid Living Diary #4 - My house has soul (and not the Motown kind!)

There is a story behind the house in which we live and it's both uplifting and inspiring. Set in 5 acres of mountainous, Spanish countryside, this isolated oasis is actually a relatively new building.

The land was purchased just over 20 years ago by a man with a dream and also the spiritual awareness to build a house that seems to envelop everyone who comes here in a cocoon of love and peace. I am not sure if it is the fact I am growing older, the fact that I have simplified my lifestyle giving me more time to be aware of my surroundings or just that I am becoming more open to spiritual thoughts and ideas, but I feel the love here too!

Briefly, the land was purchased and it was simply the land; there were no buildings here and no facilities. And, for the next 7 years, he lived on the land alone and in a tent. During this time, he grew to know his land intimately and spent many hours pondering both the house and the garden that he wanted to build. And the way he came to decide where to dig the first foundation?

He sat in the sunshine with his back against a rock, felt the peace of where he was sitting and decided to build the house there.

This rock. The rock that is now in the centre of the house, anchoring it to the land.

And then, once the location of the house had been decided, the building commenced but slowly. It was a work of love, you see, built by a small team of friends. Rather than flattening a plot and building a square box, the house is quirky and works with the land. The gardens flow from it and down the hill it sits atop of.

Having lived here now for 6 weeks, I think this way of building a house has makes a difference to the feel of the house and i also believe that positively affects the people within it.

This house has a soul!

I would love to hear if anyone else has had the same experience with building their own house?