The Guest Lodge is the first fruit to unexpectedly fall from the tree. Why unexpectedly? Because it was not planned and, like all unforeseen events, it swept me away towards a new shore of invitation. Yggdrasil Guest Lodge is both a fruit of the covid disruptions and a germinating seed of the future.

Early 2020, the renovation of the property converting the farm buildings into a retreat centre was finished. The first guest had just arrived for a month-long retreat when we were suddenly rammed into lockdown. All the projects flowing from the vision that brought me to Denmark to put down roots on Bornholm vanished in the uncertainties of the pandemic. I immediately sensed that this was a tipping moment, a wake-up call for humanity, and that there would be no going back to business as usual. So, how was I going to reorient myself? How was I going to move through the cycles of order (my original vision), disorder (the covid) and re-order (the new waiting to emerge)? What did I need to let go of so as to welcome the unknown with fresh eyes? The re-orientation was all the more urgent since I was not entitled to any of the covid relief funds that might have kept me hibernating waiting for better days.

The world as a global village imagined in the flourishing economic years of the 90s suddenly shrank in size, in my case, to the island of Bornholm which turned out to be a wonderful container and incubator. In the midst of the turmoil, I felt safe and held, exactly where I was meant to be, doing what I was meant to be doing, without being able to name the destination of the forthcoming odyssey across the unknown seas.  That summer, Danes were encouraged to holiday in their own country and Bornholm, cut off from Denmark in the Baltic Sea, soon became an exotic holiday destination. Therefore, I decided to set up a traditional Bed & Breakfast, offering visitors a direct encounter with reality by staying with the island dwellers and experiencing an unadulterated taste of the hidden treasures of Bornholm. I had in mind my own youthful unplanned travels when I met wonderful people and found accommodation by asking around or following the ‘vacancy’ signs put out in front of houses.

All this wasn’t without its challenges. The layout of the guest lodge did not meet the social distancing regulations and I had to find a way of holding an open house that respected the basics of a safe bubble able to accommodate diversity of opinions and habits, notwithstanding many people’s frustrations at being limited by imaginary boundaries of fear and shame. It was a wonderful practice for learning to articulate love and responsibility: my deep desire to care for people and give them a meaningful experience whilst providing this care from a place of collective responsibility. I could not have asked for a better training ground.

Bit by bit, guest by guest, drama by drama, I polished my emerging vision to integrate the principles of sustainability and community life that I value. How could I draw of these principles in terms of managing the property, tending to our basic needs and reimagining the local economy? In many respects, it was a practice of radical simplification stripping away the superfluous to reveal what is of essence so as to live a fulfilling and meaningful life, even in terms of leisure and entertainment. The chaos of the pandemic eventually gave birth to an eco-friendly guesthouse proudly holding a recognised sustainability certificate.