Food & Drink
1 May 2025
This article first appeared in our World Environment Day 2025 issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
Within a week of selling her business, Nadia Denise Duinker stumbled upon an online listing: ‘Abandoned village in Central Portugal’.
‘The title alone had me hooked’, Nadia remembers. ‘I flew to Portugal with my father a few days later, walked the land and signed the purchase agreement on the spot. My husband hadn’t even seen it yet.’
The move was bold, but not entirely uncharacteristic; Nadia and her husband have a background in hospitality in Amsterdam, and a track record transforming abandoned spaces into thriving cultural hotspots.
Among other projects, the couple created the popular Volkshotel as well as Amsterdam Roest, a café and event venue with a city beach on a forgotten patch of industrial land near the centre of Amsterdam, and Canvas, a rooftop bar, restaurant and art space on top of an old newspaper building.
The Quarantine, a small neighbourhood café and restaurant, made use of a building that had been squatted by Nadia’s parents-in-law the early 1980s, and held deep emotional value for his family.
‘I love working with a blank canvas, especially when it has a soul’, Nadia explains. ‘That’s what I felt in Portugal: the raw potential of the abandoned village. The buildings carried the timeless energy of the past – remnants of a once-thriving village created a structure, but it could be shaped to an emerging vision.’
That vision was to build a lifestyle and eventually an eco resort – Freedom Ville – rooted in self-sufficiency. It was formalised at the height of the Covid pandemic; ‘We wanted to be closer to nature, to our children and to ourselves’, Nadia tells us. ‘Freedom Ville is not just a business – it’s a life project, growing and transforming alongside my own personal journey.’
The seed for Freedom Ville had been planted years earlier, while Nadia was travelling solo through Asia and Australia. ‘That journey showed me I wasn’t made for the corporate world’, she shares. ‘I wanted to build a piece of paradise somewhere – a place where people could connect, share stories and bridge worlds.’
Today that piece of paradise is up and running as a 14-hectare estate complete with a whale-shaped pool, a mini spa, outdoor whirlpool bath, village taberna (social hub) and a large group pavilion for workshops and bodywork.
Guests can expect the comfort of modern life while being embraced by nature and enjoying an off-grid experience, with massages and healing treatments provided by local practitioners.
‘Freedom Ville is a sanctuary for rest, regeneration, creativity and transformation’, Nadia explains. ‘A place to stop becoming and simply be.’
Visitors have the option to enjoy a short stay, a custom-designed private retreat or one of Freedom Ville’s curated programmes.
‘From the very beginning, inclusivity has been key’, Nadia tells us. ‘When I was 18, staying in a hostel on my first solo trip, I met a businessman who preferred it over a fancy hotel. He said, ‘Here, I connect. There, I am alone.’ That stuck with me. I want to create spaces where people from all walks of life feel welcome. From age 0 to 100, from every background. We need diversity to make life rich, vibrant and full of possibilities.’
Freedom Ville’s 19 unique accommodations underline this inclusivity; guests can choose from tiny houses, yurts, studio apartments, hotel rooms and budget options.
Each space is uniquely styled with handmade interiors crafted from local natural materials and an eclectic mix of design pieces that have been collected over the years.
The village’s existing structures have been honoured, but the thick schist stone walls and traditional layouts now have new insulated roofs, and exposed stonework has been blended with soft plaster finishes.
High-quality and locally sourced materials such as pinewood, marble and granite have been used throughout.
‘Our rooms offer all the essential modern comforts, but with conscious exceptions’, Nadia says. ‘We are solar powered and raise awareness among guests about energy usage. There are no hairdryers, we have whistling kettles instead of electric ones and fans in place of air conditioning. After sundown, energy-intensive systems switch off automatically. We recycle, reduce waste and are continuously working towards circularity.’
Freedom Ville promotes shared cooking and encourages guests to use produce from its garden. In addition to its sustainability benefits, this approach helps to foster a sense of community that Nadia sees as crucial to wellbeing.
‘Community is the foundation of a meaningful life’, Nadia shares. ‘It brings safety, collaboration, inspiration and shared joy. Through relationships we grow, reflect and understand ourselves more Deeply. We believe that one plus one can equal three; that together, we become greater than the sum of our parts. We host gatherings, communal meals, events, and co-creation opportunities that nurture this collective spirit.’
Freedom Ville has been created sensitively and in harmony with its environment, in a way that honours the land, community, culture and history.
The strong emphasis on nature plays an important role in the retreat’s goal to initiate change and inner transformation.
‘Just being here invites people to turn inward’, Nadia shares. ‘Even without a structured programme, the energy of the land allows for deeper clarity. The comfort and aesthetic calm the nervous system, allowing people to reconnect with their inner voice and intuition.’
Freedom Ville currently offers therapeutic sessions, bodywork and expression practices. As it evolves, the aim is to create immersive retreat experiences that merge creativity, nature, personal development and spiritual alignment.
‘It’s about unlearning what no longer serves and reprogramming ourselves into the conscious creators we are meant to be’, Nadia tells us.
‘Nature is our teacher, our home and our greatest guide’, Nadia shares. ‘She moves us through her seasons and cycles, showing us when to bloom and when to rest. She helps us remember our essence – that we are not separate, but deeply connected. Nature reveals the illusion of the matrix and offers the path back to wholeness.’
Art and artists feature prominently at this resort and creativity is the heartbeat of Freedom Ville. It lives in the hand-painted signs, the interior details and the curated art that’s tucked into every corner.
Artists leave behind works that will eventually form a walking art route through the land – an evolving open-air museum that invites stillness, reflection and awe. It is a co-creation between human imagination and the landscape itself.
In the long term, the goal at Freedom Ville is to regenerate the 14 hectares of land and launch impactful collaborations through the resort’s Art & Nature Foundation.
‘We aim to partner with companies willing to invest in reforestation and land regeneration, to expand our reach and resilience against wildfires’, Nadia tells us. ‘We envision becoming a model for how communities, corporations and artists can co-create sustainable, meaningful change. With each year, Freedom Ville will grow into an even more beautiful, transformative sanctuary – a place of rebirth, where people return to their essence with the help of nature and a network of devoted souls walking their unique paths to heal the world.’
‘We’re always open to co-creation’, Nadia continues; ‘if our story or vision has sparked something in you, we’d love to hear from you.’
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