About us

We're what might be called (strictly tongue-in-cheek) a 'variable quantity family unit' from the UK, where we lived in a rural community in the Scottish Borders before moving to Portugal. When we first purchased Quinta do Vale, we were Wendy, Ema, Aonghas and Oonagh, plus Ema's man Chris. Aonghas and Oonagh spent 50% of their time with their father. Aonghas left us in November 2009, but he's still very much with us in spirit. Oonagh is now here full time. And as of July 2011, 'we' now includes Shyla, Ema and Chris's daughter. The beat goes on ...

Wendy

I grew up on the fringes of what was then a small market town in southern England (now a soulless suburban sprawl) at a time when things like growing all our own fruit and vegetables, keeping chickens, wasting nothing, and living in a house without central heating on which we did all our own maintenance was considered so 'normal' as to be unworthy of comment. Treading lightly on the Earth, living in tune with the natural environment and its rhythms and cycles was an urge that was always there, but it wasn't enough to resist the current of western society which was running so strongly in the opposite direction. I went with the flow, but always with this sense as if something very essential was missing.

I studied ecology as part of a biology degree at university in the 1970s, but didn't finish. Something essential was missing again. I had no sense of what it was at the time, only that being directed away from the big picture into ever more narrow academic specialisation felt instintively wrong, and the subject had lost its 'juice'. How could something so lifeless successfully model life?

This is a question that's remained current for me ever since: this mismatch between conventional understanding of natural processes and the way they are. As I went on to work in a number of different areas in the UK, Europe and the United States over the next decades, the urge to play with models and analogies that reflect life more faithfully, completely and dynamically than the ones in which science is so heavily invested (in all senses of the word) was always present. While boring the pants off friends and family for most of the time, it eventually brought me round full circle to the imperative to live in a substantially more sustainable way, working with nature rather than against it.

I discovered the effectiveness of homeopathy 20 years ago and my experiments with that led me into a 4-year course of study and then practice. I also began to work directly with subtle energies in what amount to 3 month-long meditations on their nature and role in the web of life – a kind of ecology of the inner as well as outer dimensions, as well as a delightfully crazy, wild, unpredictable dance. Working this way led on to all kinds of research and attempts to reframe conventional understanding from a more comprehensive and holistic perspective. Discovering the work of people like Viktor Schauberger, Bill Mollison, David Holmgren, Masanobu Fukuoka and Geoff Lawton reignited my passion for ecology.

Along the way I added computers to my toolbox and taught myself web design and programming which is my main source of income at the moment.

And lest things get too dry and cerebral, I love to work with my hands as much as my head. I love to work with rocks, stones and wood to realise the forms they want to express themselves in. I love to sit with friends round a table with a good meal and a glass of wine and put the world to rights. Or just sing ...

Putting 3 children through school in Britain forced me to reassess the whole subject of education. It was painful and frustrating watching their enthusiasm and curiosity fading under the pressure to cram uninspiring 'facts' (for which, read 'opinion') into their heads for the next test, while their health deteriorated and their social relationships became superficial and competitive, defined by what they owned and consumed rather than by who they are. I started exploring the option of home education with my eldest, Ema, moving increasingly towards the radical unschooling model the more I observed, learned and thought about it. All 3 of them made their own decision to leave the system, the last in summer 2008.

Our move from Scotland in 2010 to take on this quinta full time will involve putting much of this lifetime of learning, experience and discovery into practice and taking it to the next level, including experimenting with the use of homeopathy in agriculture, and taking artistic pursuits in sculpture into the scale of landscape and buildings. The feeling of something essential being missing isn't there any more.

Ema

Well since I last wrote this part for mum many things have changed! Myself & Chris went travelling round Europe in a Transit van we made homely (with the help of DIY mad mum) and loved every minute of it! Our favorite places were Amsterdam & Montreux, Switzerland.

Now we are staying in Benfeita - the village I'd said was too isolated! - opposite mum's bit of land. When mum upped and left Scotland we decided to follow suit and give her a hand. There was no way we could carry on working crazy hours for pennies and save as well as pay rent, oil, leccy, etc, so this is where we are now! Its alright, a lot more chilled out & cheaper than Scotland which is nice. I think I left my stress head behind too, much to Chris's delight!

I'm doing hairdressing and beauty treatments here and Chris mechanics. For more info on what I'm doing, click here.

We don't want to be here forever. We would like to live the city life in the dam for a while, maybe start up our own bar... who knows but at the moment that's just a dream as we are slightly skint but hey ho life's good just now!

Aonghas

Hi. I'm 314 (in human terms that's about 14). I've been home-educated for over 2 years now. I love drawing, cooking, archery, swimming, playing guitar and violin, Parkour, making supremely frothy hot chocolates and watching movies. Portugal is cool. I like it. I'm excited about making dens and hobbit holes, eating and cooking with all the fruit we have growing on the quinta, and meeting all the wildlife there.

I would love to work in the café in Benfeita making foods and snacks and home baking ... and supremely frothy hot chocolates.

Oonagh

Hay, i'm Ooni and I'm 13. If you read my previous piece about myself.. IGNORE IT!! I have a love for mini shorts and sunglasses. The major upside to Portugal is the sun ♥.

The move was definitely a big thing for me, even though I hadn't had much contact with my friends -- as I am home educated -- it was getting to the point where I was starting to want to see them again.

I mega ♥ my laptop, facebook, my friends, posing, dancing, trampolining and most physical sports.. (apart from weeding and lugging wood about). I have a hatred for puffy jackets, horror movies and most things pink..

Overall the move has been okay, it'd be nice to go back to see my friends and family every once in a while for holidays and stuff and I'm sure we will at some point.

Peace Out :-) xx

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