Casa Tilo

The House of the Linden Tree

It’s a 60-minute drive from Barcelona International Airport to Richard and Nati’s home. Although we traveled on a motorway, it’s residential housing suburbs and shopping areas all the way on either side. They have lived at Casa Tilo for 12 months and have recently renewed their rental agreement for another 12 months. It’s not only their home but it’s their business as well.

It’s been a revelation to be here and finally understand what their business is actually all about. They hold workshops, live-in seminars, retreats and even dance parties at Casa Tilo. We arrived on a Sunday morning and were just settling into our new surroundings when the first small group of clients arrived on Tuesday. Originally there were four people booked to stay, but due to a similar situation that we had experienced, namely having to change flight plans and being stuck with exorbitant price rises as a result of the Middle East conflict, the woman from India joined the group online rather than in person. We had a woman from Kenya, another from Mexico and a man from Germany. Often, it’s the first time that these people have met in person, they usually all work online. Richard and Nati cater for their meals and host these people as well as work as a group or one on one with them. As I understand it, these four are team leaders of a network of organizations around the world, who work in the not-for-profit sector, specializing in science investigations, in this case working on looking for new viruses that may result in a new pandemic in the future and developing vaccines for them. There are hundreds of scientists, activists and volunteers working away beneath the team leaders’ oversight. The funding for this is generally done by American philanthropic donors and the UN. Up until the Trump government they also were partly funded by USAID, but of course he removed all funding for this organization overnight, partway through 2025. Richard and Nati work together, facilitating new, improved ways of running large operations. They particularly encourage a model of circular management, rather than one of hierarchy. Their method is to help the team leaders diagnose their particular problems and come up with bespoke solutions, rather than Richard and Nati telling them what to do. This group was hosted at Casa Tilo for four nights, then a week later they met again online to review the results of their time here and then Richard and Nati met online with another 40 odd people within the syndicate for more instruction and training, clarification and mentoring, this will be ongoing in the medium term as they improve their management structure.

Then on the following Tuesday, we had a woman from London come and stay for another four nights. The previous week she had organized and run a convention for the organization she chairs. After a stressful week, she decided to come to Casa Tilo to unwind and reflect on what had happened at the convention and what her next steps would be leading this consortium.

Casa Tilo was originally built in 1858 and has had several additions since then. We have been very impressed with the size and style of the building, though can see that being such an old establishment, it has its negative aspects too. The plumbing is slow and there are plungers provided to encourage the flow at several sinks and basins around the house. The heating is done by burning propane at the moment which is very expensive. There are radiators in all the rooms but with high ceilings, single glazed windows and few curtains we find it a cold house. At this time of year, only the dining room is heated by the radiator, if needed there’s electric heaters provided in the bedrooms. The landlord is currently installing a ducting system upstairs to distribute heat from a large new heat pump, that’s not up and running yet, but we look forward to a more efficient heat source and then cooling in summer. Apparently, the house is shaded by the hills surrounding the property for a good part of the day during the winter months and this gets very depressing. I can well imagine that the sun will stream in during the height of summer and the shutters on the windows, the thick walls and the tile floors throughout will prove effective at keeping the house cool. The saltwater swimming pool will work a treat as well!

The house sleeps 30 people and has many antique pieces of furniture and quirky bits and pieces. The shutters are great in the bedrooms. They completely block out all light; we often sleep in till 9a.m. because it’s still pretty dark in there with the door and shutters closed.

The doors are so tall, other than one into the dining room which is so short both Dennis and Richard have to remember to bend their knees to get through it!

The nearest village is Arenys de Munt (population 9,500), three or four kilometers down the road. It sits in a valley and leads down to the Mediterranean Sea. The paved road stops just out of town and it turns into a road basically made from sand. After a decent shower it needs to be graded again. Astonishingly, after a prolonged rain the road actually turns into the river! Everyone gets a text alert to tell them it’s impassable and you just have to wait it out till the water drains away.

Their driveway is as steep as our one at home, see what I mean about the sandy surface? They have a quaint tradition here of having the town council pay a shepherd to bring his flock of sheep and goats to graze the various patches of open grassland or the undergrowth under the trees. Some of the flock have bells around their necks and it sounds so lovely hearing them wandering around. They come back every three or four weeks to keep things tidy. It’s too rough to mow and it’s so much more pleasant to hear the bleating and sheep bells than a tractor with a mower. Casa Tilo is surrounded by a National Park that’s 15,000 hectares. It’s a forest of mainly stone pines, holm oaks and cork oaks. Lavendar, euphorbia and rosemary grow wild in the undergrowth. There’s a steep road leading into the forest which passes right next to the kitchen and bedroom windows, when I say right past there’s no fence or anything separating the house from the roadway and we often hear walkers, cyclists and trail bikers zipping past, particularly on the weekends. It’s very well used.

The wild boars come out of the forest at night and wreak havoc on the lawn! Although there is a space for a vegie garden, they haven’t used it as they are worried about how long the produce would last. There are certain laws against hunting the pigs, I think you have to be a member of a club and then it’s still restricted.

When we arrived one of the first things to sort out was a list of repairs and maintenance jobs on the house and motorhome for Dennis and gardening work for me. Our aim is mix doing the touristy things in Barcelona and helping out around the property here. We have enjoyed beautiful sunny settled weather, though not that warm, since our arrival which has meant we’re out most days getting on with it. We have really appreciated the time getting to know Nati better and enjoy the company of the visitors and hosts.