Find land, get permit, buy land, and build Earthship.., that’s the idea…

So we made a second run, this time we passed through Belgium and along the way decided that the Belgium Ardennes are no longer an option.., everything points to the French Ardennes. And it’s not just the feeling we get, although important, it’s also the money.., it’s just a very big difference.., about half… well something like that.

Then there is political stability, the French way of living, better roads, the countryside is more beautiful and we think we have more chance of actually obtaining a permit.

There’s a great deal of people moving away form the rural areas in search of better times, mostly to the cities. This means the smaller villages suffer and the locals welcome new arrivals, for obvious reasons. And that’s good for us…

We visited a couple of lots and about half was really interesting. Some villages really “feel” nice and we think we could easily make a home there. Of course there is a matter of cost, size and how reachable it is. We did find one lot which was really interesting. A bit pricy but the broker gave us some hope. Any real developments will be posted…

So, a bit about the Ardennes.

I know in Holland everybody knows “the Ardennes” and most of them have been there, or in that area at some time, mostly in the Belgium Ardennes, but hey…

One reason for its popularity is nature. The hilly structure of the area limits agricultural development and thus remains nicely forested.

The Ardennes has its own historical value with strong ties to both World Wars. The many monuments and remembrance statues are a constant reminder of these wars and the strategic value of the area.

Even the Netherlands have laid claim to the area in various times and under various flags, as Spanish Netherlands, the Austrian Netherlands and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, eventually ending up with just a bit of wet lowland.

So in the traditions of old, we reclaim the Ardennes.., or at least a small part of it…

Source: Wikipedia

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Unfortunately that isn’t as easy as it sounds.., obviously. We found some interesting lots which could serve our purposes. Because the information we had was a bit thin we decided to go to Belgium and have a look.

The good news is that we have a better understanding of how large 3000 square meters really is, the bad news is, it’s going to be tough to find just the right piece of land.

The thing is that Earthship Biotecture claims you can build an Earthship anywhere in the world.., and you can. As long as it has a clear view to the south, not in a forest, not where the groundwater is close to the surface and there might be a few other criteria I do not know about.., yet.

So finding a piece of land is not as easy as it might be with a regular house.

As we were to find out…

The first lot we looked at turned out to be in a forrest, with big trees. Next to fact that it looked like a trailer park we could never get enough sunlight to heat up the house and generate enough power. Wind energy would also be a problem.

The second lot was bigger and greener, but this lay in a valley. And water ran on both sides of the lot with to the south a hill. Just big enought o prevent the winter sun from entering the house.

Here this story ends, but the quest continues. It will take some time to find a good spot. We learned a lot from this trip and will put it to good use.

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