A couple bought a farm in Portugal for $103,000 and turned it into a cozy home with two children.

The Newby family stands in front of the entrance to their main house. The couple moved from the UK to Portugal to live on an abandoned farm they bought for $103,000. John and Tara Newby wanted to create a sustainable, off-grid homestead where they could raise their sons. They turned their renovation journey into a career on YouTube, allowing them to spend more time with their children.

For John and Tara Newby, moving from the UK to Portugal was a happy accident. What was supposed to be a short vacation in Portugal during the pandemic turned into a month-long stay due to changes in travel rules that prevented them from returning home without quarantine. With all their free time, the couple decided it was the perfect opportunity to search for a home in the countryside.

A couple moved from the UK to Portugal to restore and live on an abandoned farm. Newbie "We were looking for a lifestyle that would allow us to leave the UK, spend more time outdoors, enjoy a better climate, and have space for our children to grow up wilder and freer," said Tara, 35, to Insider. They already knew what they wanted: a piece of land that they could turn into a homestead with a house they could renovate themselves. The couple fell in love with the second property they viewed - an abandoned farm on three acres of land. "We walked through the gates, and John sees the potential where others don't - including me," Tara said. "He said, 'I think we can do this.' And that was it."

The property is located near the small town of Amarante - about 220 miles north of Lisbon - in northern Portugal, and it included three small stone buildings. A couple - who were living and traveling in a van at the time - bought the farm for 95,000 euros, or about 103,000 dollars. It took them a long time to decide what they were going to do with the land. "The first idea was a business or a vacation home. We also thought about moving here permanently, and when we came back, we fell more and more in love with this place the more time we spent here," Tara said.

Ultimately, they decided that they wanted to create a sustainable off-grid homestead where they could raise their children. At that time, the couple already had their first son, Cruz, and Tara was pregnant with their second child, Sawyer. They wanted to turn an abandoned farm into a sustainable homestead for their family. Newby said, "We wanted to create a life where the kids had enough space to explore, learn, and grow." But there was also a financial aspect to their decision to invest in real estate. When they started living in a van during the pandemic, the couple sold their house in England. "Property prices in Bristol have risen significantly over the past few years, so we had some equity in that property, which was enough to buy a farm here," said John, 45, to Insider. But the money was sitting in a bank account, and interest rates were low, he said. "They weren't doing us any good," John added. "And then we came to Portugal, and we thought, why not just buy a house here with the money we have in the account?"

The process of buying a house in Portugal is quite simple, says John. The couple hired a lawyer to help them with the legal side of things and also to check that the property has all the necessary certificates for renovation. "So in Portugal, there is a whole set of laws regarding the planning committee and whether you can renovate the property," John said. Some buildings on the farm were in poor condition and overgrown with plants.

While there are many abandoned properties in the country available for sale, not all of them have the necessary documents for buyers to apply for residency or renovation permits, he added. Buyers of real estate also need a tax identification number, or NIF, before they can sign a contract, John said.

The couple moved to the farm in May 2022. Although no one had lived on the property for over 20 years, everything looked as if it had remained just as it was on the day the farm was abandoned.

After the Newbys moved in, the first thing they had to do was remove all the items left by the previous tenants. "It really looked like someone had walked out the door on a regular Tuesday and just never came back," Tara said. "There were cookies in the cupboards, clothes in the closets, and the beds were made."

She added that it took them about 10 days to clear all the rooms and thoroughly clean the space. "There was a lot to clean, a lot to go through. There was a lot of cobwebs and dust covering every surface in the house," she added.

When the cleaning was finished, the couple began to clear the land to start growing their fruits and vegetables.

Outside, nature had completely taken over most of their land, hiding the outdoor stone tables and old stairs, of which the couple was even unaware. By this time, the couple had started to get to know their Portuguese neighbors, and some of them even helped the couple with their project.

“We are so lucky to have neighbors who welcomed us with open arms,” Tara said. “Our Portuguese neighbors are incredibly generous with their warmth, time, and advice.” Their neighbors also helped the couple navigate administrative issues. “If we needed to obtain certain documents, they assisted us with that because very few people speak English where we live,” she added. “They literally supported us. They helped us with all the things that can make life here really challenging.”

The couple worked on the farm for three months before returning to the UK to prepare for the birth of their second son, Sawyer. Tara gave birth to Sawyer in September 2022, and the family of four returned to Portugal just a month later. They have been on the farm ever since.

Upon returning, the couple ramped up their renovation efforts, and their home began to take shape. In the main house, they transformed the first floor into a cozy living room with an open layout and kitchen. Upstairs, they sleep in one bedroom. Some of the furniture and decor in their home is made from recycled items, including a wooden table that John made from an old wine press he found on a farm.

The couple has a water supply system disconnected from the grid, as well as fresh water coming to their property from a stream. Although the farm is connected to the power grid, the family also relies on solar energy. They are still considering whether to completely disconnect from the grid in the future. "In fact, Portugal has very good renewable energy within the national grid. I think that for several months this year, one hundred percent of the electricity in the country was provided exclusively from renewable sources," John said.

Newbies document every step of their renovation of a Portuguese farm on their YouTube channel. The couple's YouTube channel started in 2020 when they were still living in the UK, and it was a way to stay connected with relatives abroad. "At first, it was just a hobby. We started by posting a few videos for Tara's parents, who were in Zimbabwe, so they could keep up with what was happening," John said. Before the pandemic, John and Tara worked together at a travel agency and had planned several exciting trips around Europe. But when the pandemic began, their plans changed. They decided to focus on renovating the farm and creating their sustainable homestead.