Our sanctuary
A paradise in the mountains of Tarbena
There are places that enter your life very rationally. You compare options, make spreadsheets, think things through carefully and slowly decide.
And then there are places that make absolutely no sense at all. This place belonged to the second category.
Slowly building our dream place
Back in 2018, during one of my first deeper womb healing experiences, I received a vision that stayed with me long after the experience ended. I saw a house on a mountain. Smaller houses close to it. Nature all around. A space for people to gather, heal, rest and reconnect.
At that time we were living on Ibiza and immediately after that experience we started searching. First in Portugal, later again on Ibiza itself, and eventually in Andalucía. But every place we visited felt wrong in my body. Sometimes a place looked beautiful on paper, but the moment I arrived there I could feel an immediate no. And after a while I stopped talking about the vision altogether because it started feeling unrealistic. Especially with housing prices going through the roof and our finances definitely not matching the dream.
Until somewhere in 2021 the vision returned again. Very clearly. Almost annoyingly clear. Like life was trying to place something back on the table that I had quietly pushed away.
A few weeks later my mom sent me a real estate listing from the Costa Blanca area where my parents live. To be honest, the first house she sent was terrible. But next to it there was one of those random Google advertisements saying something simple like “finca, pool, 6 bedrooms.” So I clicked on it without thinking much of it. And there it was. This place.
Completely outside of our budget. Slightly neglected. Wild. Overgrown. But the moment we saw it something inside of me became very still. My parents went to view it first and my mom called me afterwards saying, “Marjolein… I think you need to come here.”
Two days after visiting, we bought it.
Even now I still don’t fully understand how we managed to do it. On paper it was impossible. But somehow, with the help of family, friends, a lot of creativity and a very strong feeling that this place was meant to happen, life opened the doors step by step.
Since the end of 2021 we have been slowly rebuilding and reshaping the land. And I really mean slowly. Sometimes beautifully slow, sometimes frustratingly slow. Because the romantic idea of slow living sounds amazing until you suddenly have leaking pipes, trees that need attention, irrigation systems breaking in the middle of summer and a vegetable garden being eaten alive by insects overnight.
But somewhere inside of all of that, this place started becoming what it was always meant to be.
A sanctuary.
Not in the luxury-retreat-center kind of way. But in the real way. A place where people can exhale a little. Walk barefoot. Hear silence again. Sit outside at night and actually see the stars. A place where conversations naturally become slower and more honest because there is less noise around them.
We are surrounded by more than 100 olive trees and every year we harvest them and make our own olive oil. We have been learning how to grow food on the land as naturally as possible without chemicals, which has honestly been humbling. Some years things grow beautifully. Other years nature has very different plans. Somewhere in the middle of the garden lives a massive toad who appears every now and then like the unofficial guardian of the land.
Life here moves differently.
Mornings often begin slowly with coffee outside while the mountains are still quiet. In the evenings the valley fills with the sound of crickets and soft wind moving through the olive trees. During harvest season the land changes completely again, with olive nets spread across the ground and everyone covered in dust and laughter by the end of the day.
Over the years we slowly restored the smaller houses on the land as well. One of them became the retreat cabin where I host the group retreats and private immersions. It sleeps six people and sits a little further away from the main house, surrounded by trees and silence. There is no internet there, which people usually find uncomfortable for about half a day before their nervous system finally starts settling again.
“So from this year on we decided to softly open the cabin
for short stays.”
The second little house is our red cabin.
Originally it was mostly used by friends and family visiting the land, but over time more people started asking if they could simply come stay here for a few days without joining a retreat. Not necessarily because they were looking for healing work, but because they were looking for space.
And honestly, I understand that deeply.
Not everyone needs a full process. Sometimes people simply need a few quiet mornings, nature, slower evenings and a place where they can hear themselves think again.
So from this year on we decided to softly open the cabin for short stays.
It’s a small and simple space made for two people, with its own bathroom, a small kitchen, WIFI for those who still need to work a little, and access to the pool and the land. Some people come here to write. Others to rest after burnout, create music, reconnect as a couple, work remotely from nature for a few days or spend time alone without constantly being “on.”
There is no program here unless you want one.
You can spend your days completely privately, go for hikes in the mountains, read by the pool, join us for tea now and then, or book a session with me if you feel called to deeper support during your stay.
And sometimes the most healing thing is simply having nowhere to be for a little while.
Staying in the red cabin
- Suitable for 1–2 people
- Private bathroom
- Small kitchen
- WIFI
- Access to the pool and surrounding nature
- Hiking routes nearby
Prices
October – May: €75 per night
June – September: €100 per night
If you feel called to spend some quiet time on the land, you are welcome to reach out through the contact form or send us a message directly.