The frozen grass cracks under my feet as I step out the van and in the light of my head torch find the way to the barn gate. It creaks in the cold as I lift the wooden handle and swing it open. Then climbing through the old stables and skirring through a couple more doors, I eventually get to the little bathroom. Huib said it could be mine for the time I stay here. There's nothing in there but this old-school oval bath tub in which you feel like a film star when lying there in the steam with a cold bottle of Grolsch in your hand after a long day of work.
It has been almost three weeks now since I moved into my van on new year's day. I remember being so hungover from the big night in the village pub that I felt totally lost, did not know where to go at all. Here I was in my van with all my things so I was actually at home but it just didn't feel like it. A cold and misty day to begin the new year with, constant rain feeding water to the wheel of misery. 'Where should I go?' I thought to myself as I slowly drove along a random national road, listening to The Doors and gradually feeling the warmth from the blower creep up my legs. At a gas station, I got myself two of these hamburgers for 2,50 to heat up in the microwave on the spot. That's when I knew it could not get worse but only get better.
And it did. Two days later I arrived at Huib's farm. There are actually no animals there apart from Blue, the huge puppy. And Huib himself perhaps. He moved here from the city of Amsterdam with his wife and two kids about two years ago. And he's probably the most hands-on person I've ever met with the energy to rip trees out of the ground day by day. His selection of tools and machines compares to small factory rather than to a workshop. There's nothing that would not be possible here.
So together we're building this traditional Dutch barn which will have a wine storage in the bottom and a 120m² office in the top floor with a glass front facing east and overlooking the vast fields. The last weeks we've been working almost every day, insulating the walls, drawing cables, grinding, screwing, sawing, painting. It's equally hard and rewarding being out here all day in the fresh winter air.
Right next to it my van is parked nicely leveled and connected to the grid so I can run the little heater inside. I begin my day in the misty morning hours as the rooster from the farm across the road tells everyone it's time to get up. Soon, the sun rises bright and yellow at the horizon and I sit in my joggers with a cup of coffee on my backseat watching this most beautiful part of the day. Sheep are quietly grazing, geese and swans flying above our heads and I hear horses in the distance.