We sold everything to live 1,400 miles away on abandoned land with 300 days of sun…we wanted a simple life and we got it

An adventurous couple said goodbye to the gray skies and left their old lives behind to settle in a sunnier place.

Iwan and Carissa, from North Wales, decided enough was enough when they saw the rain falling and rental prices skyrocketing.

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After lockdown in 2020, the pair moved to central Portugal, where they found their “peaceful little corner of the world” and never looked back.

The journey to their new home, which was then just a hut, took three days.

The land they wanted to buy cost less than £10,000 and that, plus the 300 days of sunshine, sealed the deal for the couple.

They settled in a small granite stone building, nestled among 200 meters of olive trees and vines.

Carissa explained that the original plan was to “build a simple wooden cabin and live mostly outside,” but the process was much more difficult than expected.

She said: “Tackling the stone building was a much bigger undertaking than the little cottage we had dreamed of.”

“The 300 days of sunshine I had read about meant an unrelenting summer of scorching temperatures, forest fires and months without a drop of rain, drying out the land.”

To document their adventure, the couple started a YouTube channel, which now has 30,000 subscribers.

The channel takes its followers on a journey where they build a driveway, renovate the kitchen and install air conditioning – all by hand.

In a video, Iwan and Carissa can be seen laying concrete on the floor, which they said took 36 hours to dry.

In another clip, Carissa lets her chickens out in the wooden coop the two hand-built in their new backyard.

The DIY couple are also keen gardeners, digging up weeds with their bare hands to make room for home-grown vegetables.

As part of the project, Iwan and Carissa made it their mission to learn how to make furniture that would make their house a home.

In the video, they worked to build a new kitchen unit from the comfort of their own backyard using industrial tools.

But not everything went smoothly, Iwan and Carissa experienced a swarm of bees setting up camp in their olive tree – luckily a family member came to their aid and removed the insects.

After two years of turmoil, they now have a fully functioning farmhouse that they share with their two dogs and children.

After setting up, the pair have now started a new hobby of making their own wine and olive oil as part of their simple life.

Although Carissa said her new life was a “brilliant decision”, she said there were some things she missed about Wales.

“I miss flatbread, brown gravy, fish and chips with malt vinegar and the friendliness of staff in shops and cafes,” she said.

It happened after a couple sold their home to live in a trailer without a mortgage.

And another couple is moving into a three-bedroom dream home just a stone’s throw from picturesque beaches for just £166 a month.

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