Blog #1 Dream, dare and do!
Dreams, about living close to nature. In a farmhouse, with space for some animals around the door.
Who doesn't dream of this? Inspired by travel and TV programmes such as 'Ik Vertrek'.
You just have to dare to quit your job, speak the language or not, no friends or family nearby - that is a bridge too far for us.
The search for a farm with possibilities to make dreams come true had been going on for a long time. In March 2017 we received the key to our farm in Boijl.
We received various reactions around us. What are you doing? Are you sure?' An old, dilapidated farm with lots of leaks and a very poor state of repair. Not to mention asbestos in the whole roof.
In hindsight, we understand the question marks of those around us. This was not 'just' a small renovation.
Even the contractor said:
You have to have courage to do this'.
We dared to do it together. In 2017, we stripped the entire farm. The roof came off, the asbestos was removed and the new roof was on before winter.
At one point, only the old outer walls and the original trusses were still standing.
A contractor hammered the new roof on in the traditional manner.
We cleaned and sorted the roof tiles one by one and put them back to preserve the charm of the farm.
What a dirty job, removing the 100-year-old thatch from the roof boarding. You don't want to know what was hidden in that reed.
During the first part of the renovation, we lived partly in the farmhouse and partly in the mobile home. As for me, I would never want to live in a mobile home again, brrrrrr.... how cold it is in the autumn/winter!
When you're demolishing, you might almost think, just knock down the last bit of that old farmhouse.
We have been very enthusiastic about renovating. We learned a lot. Every spare hour, every weekend, every holiday, went into the renovation. We outsourced a number of trades.
Now, almost 5 years on, we look back on these years with pride. The end of the renovation is in sight.
Privately we live in the back of the farmhouse, on the first floor are 3 beautiful guest rooms ready.
The end result of the guest rooms is more beautiful than what we had in mind.
We are going to fulfil our dream of living on a farm in beautiful surroundings. The farm is of course much too big for the two of us. The idea was and is to start a bed and breakfast, which we already started in September 2021.
What a beautiful place we are privileged to live in. A small paradise, in Frisian: Lyts Paradys
We like to share the Lyts Paradys with our guests, to enjoy the peace, space and nature.