Since I decided to go live in a Tiny House and started this blog and the Facebook page (Tiny House Nederland), I keep meeting people with similar dreams or who are just fascinated with the idea. It is like throwing a pebble in a pond; you never know how big the rings will get but it’s amazing to watch and it leads to surprising meetings. Like the Facebook message I got a while back from Frans who lives in Groenlo. He told me that he had a spot for me and my Tiny House. Well, the area is a bit far from my work, I joked, but I could, of course, camp there sometime. Sure, he said! And so I drove to Groenlo last weekend with my friends Renate and Erik, where we were heartily greeted by Frans and his family. We could put up our tents in the paddock next to the house. What a beautiful place, so green and quiet! The weather happened to be really nice, which made us feel that the weekend could get no better, but on top of that Frans had a delicious bbq scheduled for us and he took us out on a walk through the beautiful surrounding nature. How surprising is that! For someone you don’t know to open up his home and his heart to you like that, I find that truly wonderful! So should you read this, Frans, you are an amazing person and thank you very much yet again!!
On the way back we drove by Olst to have a look at Hermit Houses and Daan’s Design Workplace, where Daniel and Jelte are now building their first Tiny House. So I finally got to look around in a real Tiny House, which was fantastic! Secretly I worried that when I would see one for real I would find it really small – as you see on that TV show “Tiny House Nation”. But nothing whatsoever happened. The size was actually just perfect. Even Renate and Erik said it was bigger than they thought and they were a lot more enthusiastic about my plans now that they had seen such a house and talked to the people building it. They really know what they are doing over there and they think of everything! The house that’s being built now is Jelte’s of Woonpioniers. And when that one is finished and I get my financing sorted, next up is mine! So I casually asked Daniel if, in theory, it could be finished by the summer? Sure, that might well be doable! Aaaaaaaaa! I became completely hyper of course… How great would that be, to catch the last of summer in my new home… :)
Jelte’s Porta Palace
And speaking of surprising meetings, I’m in a WhatsApp group now with a handful of people who all want to build their own Tiny House and are looking into the possibility of getting a spot together and starting a real Tiny House community. All of this is happening through this blog or through other websites and that’s how you get into contact with one another and exchange information. That’s also how I met Jan Willem and Rosa from Schagen at the flea market on King’s Day. We had already been in touch and they came to say hi. So nice!! There are definitely more people who want this, and my expectation is that the Tiny House movement will grow fast here in the Netherlands. It is just a great way of living: healthier, better for the earth, better for the people – there are so many upsides to it!
Ok, I’m turning off my PC for now. In Groenlo I deliberately hardly used my cellphone, because I wanted to detach myself from all that information and triggers and consciously enjoy nature and the people around me. And that has worked out well. I’ll do it more often. I also want to make more weekend trips in the Netherlands; we have such beautiful areas. And Renate and Erik are also into that, so that’s fun!
Have a great weekend again, guys!
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