We bought an abandoned Spanish cortijo for €40,000 and began breathing life back into it — one olive tree, crumbling wall, and sun-soaked afternoon at a time.
Hi, we are Jemma and Callum McGlynn — a UK family who swapped the rat race for an abandoned Andalusian farm. Because of Schengen visa limits, we can only stay 90 days out of every 180, so when we are not on the farm, we are exploring the world in our 7-berth eBay motorhome (Dave).
Five categories, one shared thread: building a life worth living.
Restoring our abandoned Andalusian cortijo — one olive tree, crumbling wall, and sun-soaked afternoon at a time.
Our trusty 7-berth eBay motorhome and the roads less taken — from UK lanes to Spanish mountain passes.
Growing, harvesting, and eating from our own land. The slow, satisfying rhythm of self-sufficiency.
Honest reviews of the tools and tech powering our off-grid adventure — from solar power to chainsaws.
Schengen limits mean we explore beyond Spain. Hidden gems, new horizons, and adventures as a family.
After nearly three months away, we finally made it back to our rural Spanish farm — breakdowns and all — to find the grapevines had taken over and nearby wildfires meant clearing dry vegetation suddenly became our most urgent job.
Read more: Returning to Spain: Breakdowns, Overgrown Vines & Preparing for Wildfire SeasonA year into living in Spain, we're sharing the everyday things that have genuinely won our hearts — outdoor living, affordability, community, friendly neighbours and the family-focused lifestyle we never expected to fall so in love with.
Read more: After One Year In Spain, Here's What We Love Most 🇪🇸At the end of 2024 we collected the keys to our €40,000 abandoned farm in Spain. Eighteen months on, we're looking back room by room and acre by acre at just how far this Andalusian farmhouse has come.
Read more: How We Turned a €40,000 Abandoned Farm Into a Home | Then vs NowWe turned an overgrown corner of our abandoned Spanish farm into a safe family space — fencing it off, building a DIY gate, laying a stone flower bed and giving the kids (and Patch the puppy) somewhere new to call their own.
Read more: We Created A Family Space On Our Abandoned Farm In SpainFor over 20 years this corner of our abandoned Spanish farm was left completely untouched. We finally brought in a digger to clear it, then burned through the scrub to reveal a whole new hidden area of Cortijo Renacer.
Read more: We Opened Up Hidden Land On Our Abandoned Farm In SpainVideo is where the magic happens. See the farm transformation, motorhome adventures, and family moments that words cannot fully capture.
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