#10: Tales from the Islands: From Notting Hill to Magical Mallorca
We meet the Entrepreneur Zoe Lind van't Hof who left London for the golden glow of the Balearics
We’ve gathered tales from some of the people who casually said ‘no gracias’ to only living the good life on vacation. Get inspired as you hear how they made Europe their full time home.
The Interview:
“Before we moved to Mallorca our base was in Notting Hill, London. We lived there for around 8 years and loved the community feeling on Golborne Road and Portobello Road and had many local cafes and delis that we visited frequently. Due to our business, we travelled for about 4 months of the year visiting the farmers that we work with across the world.
Whenever I was back in London, despite loving its vibrancy, I craved nature so much. We lived in a flat and worked from home mostly. We would plan all our meetings from Soho House though, so it would give us a nice reason to have a bit of a commute and spend time in other parts of town.
Three years ago, my friend took me to Mallorca and showed me her favourite childhood place, and that’s when I visited the Tramuntana for the first time and fully fell in love. I actually had butterflies in my belly! It’s then that I decided I wanted to live there….and now 3 years later here I am!”
What attracted you to Mallorca?
It was a purely physical reaction, something I had never felt before about a place. It felt like being in love and coming home. The climate is perfect and the landscape is beautiful. I always thought I am more of a tropical rainforest person, but somehow the golden earth and light here just did it for me! Besides that I kept meeting inspiring people who all had a link to Mallorca as well, so it was a full coming together of reasons to be here.
How did you make the transition to working remotely?
The first 4 years of our business I had to make all the products myself, so I worked from a commercial kitchen together with my boyfriend. All the orders would be shipped from our flat and this all added up to a lot of work. We got to a turning point where we had to make the decision to either have a full manufacturing and distribution operation or outsource this work. We decided to go with outsourcing, which meant that for the last 2-3 years, we have been fortunate enough to be able to work from anywhere. So moving to Mallorca was luckily very easy for us in terms of our office.
Tell us more about Wunder Workshop…
Wunder Workshop creates products for the people and planet. We focus on Consumption With Purpose, by harvesting the power of regeneratively grown plants for the ultimate wellness rituals. Wunder translates to miracle, and we focus on plants that have a quality that can be classed as such.
Wunder Workshop is inspired by intuitive herbalism and Ayurveda - in particular, the preventative and holistic approach that this ancient medical system uses to maintain optimal physical and mental health.
As conscious citizens ourselves, all the decisions we make at Wunder Workshop are based on a set of ethical and sustainable values to promote a transparent relationship between grower and consumer.
How do your property and living costs per month compare with your pre relocation life?
Rental costs are definitely cheaper compared to London, you get a lot more space for your money. Living costs however are surprisingly more expensive. I never realised how lucky we were in the UK with electricity costs etc. They are at least triple out here. The same for water, it nearly costs 8-fold to what we paid in the UK. So those things need to be taken into account - it sort of evens out similar to our overall costs in London.
What are your insider's tips for Mallorca?
My favourite cafe and brunch spot: Mama Carmen’s in Palma
Most lovely zero-waste store: Nu Market in Palma
Beautiful small deli: Colmado Sant Jaume in Palma
Best natural wine bar: Bar La Sang in Palma
Coffee spot: Cafe Social on the Wednesday market in Deia
Beautiful cafe & zero waste store: ReOrganic in Soller
