Morning All,

As with so many things, starting this new blog has taken a lot of thought and initial inaction…at least in terms of putting finger tip to key board….but now, I am glad to say that…

We’re off!!!!

So what’s it all about Alfie?

I suppose this is the second installment of our story in Morocco. The tale of the build of our boutique Riad in Fez, Dar Finn is told in a previous blog Family in Fez . If I am honest, whilst the end result, Dar Finn and our house in Fez are wonderfully beautiful and soul feeding places, the experience of their building was by far the most difficult thing I have ever done…plenty of blood, sweat and tears.

But this project in Loubar, just outside of Chef Chaouen, is something else.  I bought the land almost 5 years ago, from a very affable local farmer called Fuddle, who’s day job is a baker. At the time Finn looked like this and the Moroccan government had clamped down on kiff (marijuana) production outside of Ketama and land values had dropped accordingly.

See the link for an interesting discussion on the historical and economic background to hashish production.

It was a very different experience, looking for land in the Riff, as oppose to looking for a house in Fez medina. Weeks were spent yomping over fields and through areas of outstanding natural beauty. A day looking for a suitable patch, meant walking over mountains, through valleys and up and down hills,,,something of a physical challenge, but what a great way to look for a project.

As in Fez, there were many times when things just didn’t work out right. Of course, given the local major cash crops, prices per hectare differed wildly. At one place I looked, the farmer asked for 100,000 euros for a hectare, explaining that I’d be doubling my money within four years, given the amount of hashish I’d be able to produce!!!

But that wasn’t the idea and the only way I was able to even consider buying a patch was because, following EU and US pressure on Morocco to reduce the production of marijuana and hashish, farmers outside of the Ketama area were being forced to stop production.

At the time we went to stay on a number of farms through a local community based tourism organization called Xaouen Rural  and all the farmers told us of the pressure they were under to sign away production rights, accept one off payments from the government as compensation and of having their fields sprayed by planes to prevent future growth.

This provided me with a real opportunity, which finally, thanks to Fuddle and Mustapha, an English speaking friend in Xaouen, I was able to grab with both hands and once I arrived on Fuddles’ land, six months after I started looking for my little patch of Paradise, I knew that that was it…

It must be said that in time things have again changed. Five years on and Finn now looks like this …and curiously enough the image above was taken recently of one of my neighbours fields,  in prolific pot production  once again.

I asked what had happened and weren’t they worried about the previous police clampdown…Fuddle said it was all about “suerte”..or luck, but the other neighbours were more cynical…police and government initiatives come and go, now they are looking in another direction, so we start growing again…..

Regardless what I see here is an opportunity to develop rural community based tourism in an area of outstanding natural and cultural beauty. Having finally finished Dar Finn and finding the strength to again consider a new project I can’t wait to get started……

I hope you’ll be able to join me on this journey virtually through this blog…or why not come along and give a helping hand, you’re more than welcome.

Px