Food is at the foundation of our lifestyle choices. Every day we offer healthy, fresh and tasty homemade plant based food made from seasonal recipes. We take great care in selecting the ingredients and in their preparation: each is carefully sourced from local suppliers and producers.

Some of the fruit, vegetables and herbs we use grow in our own kitchen garden or close to the house. Casa Payer is made of Woods: the trees, the stone and the clay soil of the surrounding land. We renovated it honouring the original building techniques, observing green-building criteria and with the desire to inhabit this ancient place that vibrates with the ancestral energy of the stone and the harmony of the wood.

Chestnut trees make up the beams while the walls and the roof are of stone. The natural limestone plaster regulates humidity levels and allows the rooms to breathe. Water used for washing and the wall heating system is heated by the warmth of the sun and using firewood originating from the woods.

Wood fibre board insulates the roof, floors and ceilings. Paints are composed of mineral pigments, oils and plant resins. Rainwater is harvested from the large roof to water the garden and vegetable garden. In this way we stay connected to nature and are easy on the environment. Small creatures from the woods find refuge in the nooks and crannies of the house and walls.

On Saturdays, experiment with baking with sourdough, kneading in our company, and for dinner, book a pizza with our seasonal vegan toppings. In the evening, sitting on the steps around the lit oven, you’ll relish the experience of baking while looking forward to the pizza.

We cook the bread and pizzas in our large wood-burning oven, using logs obtained during the winter clearing. The sourdough that we use has diverse, antique origins, in particular, Sardinian and Andalusian. Sourdough is alive and complex. It’s slow and untamed yet socializing. Bread made from sourdough lasts for several days, so little is wasted. And it is easy to digest, as the gluten it contains is “digested” by the enzymes.

Niksen – The ’Not doing’, A powerful rejuvenating therapy

It’s doing without expectations. It’s getting beyond your comfort zone and breaking the habit of being yourself, changing your point of observation. Idleness and contemplation play an integral role. They are the essence of creativity and change, and along with restful sleep, they rejuvenate, they heal, they “illuminate”.

“Not doing” can illicit sensations of unexplained joy, embarrassing moments of serenity, wonder, inspiration, and light-headedness. Idleness does not create addiction and it’s free. However…it’s important to come to it without expectation. One essential ingredient of the therapy is walking barefoot. Grounding and re-establishing contact with the Earth and the self is freeing, sensual, and brings inner confidence: on the grass coated in morning dew, on stone, along a soft wooded path, in the cool water of the brook, on autumn leaves…but watch out for the prickly burrs of fallen chestnuts!