Hola, amigos! I’m full of cold this week and sounding a bit rough, but that was never going to stop us — this has been a project I’ve wanted to tackle for ages. After clearing more overgrown land around our abandoned Spanish farmhouse, it was finally time to turn it into something special: a proper, safe family space for the kids, and for our very important puppy supervisor, Patch.
Reclaiming an Overgrown Corner for the Kids
We’d cleared this patch before, but between the wind and how fast everything grows back here, our weed control fabric had been completely mushed around — some of it had blown clean across the plot. So it was back to square one: clear it all again, properly this time, ready to move in the children’s swimming pool, their new mushroom-shaped table and chairs, and their mud kitchen. The kids were on full helper duty, and honestly, it’s amazing how much they manage to gather when they’re motivated by the promise of a pool.
Why We’re Keeping This Area Low-Maintenance
It’s genuinely a shame digging up ground that’s this green — it’s a great sign the soil here is holding moisture well. But with so much still to do across the rest of our off-grid homestead, we wanted an area that wouldn’t demand constant upkeep. So after the weed suppressor goes down, we’re covering it with stones to keep things manageable, and any planting from here on will be intentional rather than whatever springs up on its own.
Fencing Off a Safe Space for Patch
With Patch going to be living out here full-time, fencing off part of this area felt essential — an extra safety net in case a gate ever gets left open. We kept it simple: wooden posts and wire fencing, flattening out the uneven ground first so every post sits level. Safety first, always, especially with little hands helping to hammer things in.
Building Our Own DIY Gate
No proper enclosure is complete without a gate, and because we love a challenge (and because, by our own admission, we’re pretty hopeless at woodwork), we decided to build our own rather than buy one — using the same round posts as the rest of the fence. With Hayden on the tools and Maya as chief supervisor, “Budget and Scarpa’s Gate Shop” got the job done, corner struts and chicken wire included, specifically to stop Patch attempting his great escape.
Stone by Stone: The Flower Bed Border
While building the stone base around the bottom of the fence, we had a better idea: why not run a proper stone-bordered flower bed the whole way along instead of finishing it off with wooden kickers? It looks so much nicer, and it’ll let us plant herbs on one side without the dogs digging them straight back up. Naturally, we ran out of stones halfway through and had to make an emergency run for more — seven bags turned out to be nowhere near enough for a space this size.
A Few Extra Guests (Including One Very Large Spider)
No farm renovation day is complete without a surprise, and this one came in the form of an enormous spider that had Jem briefly reconsidering her life choices. Hayden, ever the braver of the two of us, offered to relocate it immediately. Between that and a curious puppy trying to help with every single job, progress came with plenty of laughs along the way.
The Finishing Touch: Bringing Back the Outdoor Shower
The real crowning moment of the day wasn’t the gate, the fence, or even the stones — it was reinstalling the outdoor shower (affectionately nicknamed the “butt washer” by the kids) that had been removed during our recent plumbing work. Once it’s filled with compost and planted up with things the kids can pick themselves, this little corner of the Spanish farm is going to be exactly the family space we set out to build.
Watch: Creating a Family Space on Our Abandoned Spanish Farm
Here’s the full episode — the clearing, the fencing, the DIY gate build and everything in between:
We Created A Family Space On Our Abandoned Farm In Spain
Jump to the moments that matter most:
- 0:00 – A new project: clearing space for the kids
- 0:37 – The whole family gets stuck in
- 1:39 – Turning the cuttings into mulch
- 2:22 – Why we’re keeping this area low-maintenance
- 2:30 – Fencing off a safe space for Patch
- 3:10 – Drink break (fighting off a cold!)
- 4:44 – Adding the fence: wooden posts & wire
- 5:48 – “This is huge. It’s absolutely massive.”
- 9:39 – Lining the fence with a stone flower bed
- 10:36 – Building our own DIY gate
- 12:38 – A very large spider makes an appearance
- 13:56 – Running out of stones (again)
- 14:46 – The kids’ mushroom table & pool arrive
- 18:06 – The finishing touch: our reinstated outdoor shower
Join Our Off-Grid Journey in Spain
We’re a UK family living off-grid in Andalusia, Spain — building something new for our kids out of every overgrown corner we uncover, one shovel-full at a time. Subscribe on YouTube and follow along as we keep transforming Renacer McGlynn (that’s Spanish for “to be reborn”) into the homestead we’ve always dreamed of.
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¡Hasta la próxima!