Author’s Note: Dorota Owen interviewed me for this story.

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Dorota: I’m going to interview you today to find out how it came about that you got your house — your beautiful house in the Ecovillage Findhorn. How did all that start?

Manda: Well, I must say it was a long journey to actually get here in the first place but, once I had decided to move here, the process went very quickly. So it was years of coming and going and heartache and rejection — living in people’s garages, living in horrible little turret houses in Kinloss. When I finally appealed to Spirit about my next steps, I heard a voice saying “Findhorn bed and breakfast”.

I came up and I put it out to Spirit: If you want me to stay here, I am not sleeping on garage floors anymore. You have to find me a house. It can be a simple house, but I cannot rough it at my age anymore.

One day I was driving around the back streets of Forres looking for Tesco’s, of all things, when I came across Ken — remember he used to cut the lawns? I wound my window down and he said, “What are you doing here?” I said, “I’m looking for Tesco’s” — and then I added, just as a little extra, “And I’m also looking for a house.” And he said — it was like something from a story, Dorota, I kid you not, it was like a fairytale — he said, “Ah, if you go to the bottom drawer of Cluny Estate Agents, there might be something of interest to you.”

I forgot about Tesco’s and went straight to Cluny’s, and there, sure enough, in the bottom drawer was a prospectus — an information sheet about Treetops. Now Treetops, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the seven original cedarwood bungalows. They were mainly all owned by the Foundation but this one — Treetops — was still privately owned, and the family selling it were quite disenchanted with the Community. They wanted to sell to someone outside, so they took it to an estate agent, which was actually unheard of. Houses here were always swapped by word of mouth. For something like this — a mobile home, cedarwood bungalow — to go to an estate agent was quite extraordinary. Anyway, I got the prospectus, went to see it straight away, and straight away I could see myself living there. Unlike a house, you don’t need a solicitor — it’s like buying a car or a caravan.

Treetops original 1960s kitchen

Treetops original 1960s kitchen

On the same day that I saw it, I went back to where I was staying with Sky Cummings and said, “I’m thinking about buying Treetops.” It was like a black cloud descended on her. She said, “Oh no — there’s going to be big trouble if you buy Treetops.” She explained that there had been solicitors involved trying to control who the previous owner, Constance, could see in the care home, and the Foundation also wanted to buy it. She said, “It’ll be big trouble.”

I just looked at her and thought, I don’t mind a bit of trouble.

So the next day I put in the offer, it was accepted, and the rest is history. There was a little bit of upset amongst certain people in the Foundation about how I — a stranger, basically — came into the Community and bought this prime-position bungalow. But I held my ground and said, “Well, I have been called here. A voice was telling me to come, and I followed that voice”.

Fairy garden glimpses photo Manda Stretch

Fairy garden glimpses

And here I am, 22 years later, having lived a very happy life. The house is now being enjoyed by my family — my four grandchildren out in the garden there. I’m still running it as a bed and breakfast, which was my original calling, and it’s just been a dream. I am eternally grateful to Ken — rest his soul — for being the messenger and pointing me towards Cluny Estate Agents

Dorota: Manda, thank you. That is an incredibly inspiring story. And I don’t think it’s the end of it, either — it’s a really well-placed house. Can you tell us a little about why the location really works?

Manda: Well, yes — it’s in the heart of the original Community, before all the new builds. So energetically, it’s quite intense. The fairies are in the garden — people who can see things can see the fairies in my garden. I can’t; I’m a bit too practical for that! I don’t quite see them, but I can feel them somewhat. And it’s just an iconic building, really, no matter how simple it is. It’s part of the original heart of this Community

Dorota: And what’s it like for you, living in it?

Living Room with amazing wood stove photo Manda Stretch

Living Room with amazing wood stove

Manda: Well, it’s cold. It’s cold and it’s intense. Some people say they don’t know how I live there, because it is, as I say, right in the heart of things — like sitting in the hot seat. It hasn’t got insulation, because back in the day they didn’t do that on these prefabs. But I have a great little wood stove, and some days Pete Finch comes around and says it’s the warmest place on the Park — and he’s used to India temperatures! So we work around its foibles.

Dorota: But you can never be lonely there.

Manda: No — I have people coming in and out all the time. It’s so near the Phoenix Café. It suits me down to the ground. If you offered me, Dorota, one of the state-of-the-art eco houses anywhere in ‘the field’ or in Findhorn Village, I wouldn’t take it.

Dorota: Why not?

Manda: Well, I wouldn’t go to Findhorn Village — for me, that’s out of ‘the field,’ and I like being in ‘the field.’ And as for the new builds — with some of the houses being built, you’re right on top of each other, and that wouldn’t suit me. So yes, this suits me perfectly.

Dorota: It does — I can see that. You’re literally suited down to the very ground you live on. It’s got a perfect location — sheltered by the garden, the big hedge, the tree. You’re right in nature, and yet there’s a whole car park outside.

Now, over these two decades, have any visitors particularly stood out?

Hazel Elf drawing by Frances Ripley

Hazel Elf

Manda: Yes — there was one man who was going to be doing animal communication the next day. He came and stayed, went out into the garden, and the next morning I asked him, “Did you feel anything?” He said, “Well, I didn’t just feel something — I saw something. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He described beings with long pointed ears and pointed hats. I went and got the nature spirit book — yes, the one Francis Ripley wrote — and showed him the cover. He went white. He said that was exactly what he’d seen.

Dorota: Gosh — a real validation of the magic of the garden. Now, you do have neighbours, but they’re not really…

Manda: They’re not really on top of me. I feel like I can be myself. I don’t have to hush my grandchildren — they can shout and play in the garden. It works for us all, and I feel it works for the Community too.

I will say something about the first day I moved in. Andrew Murray — do you remember Andrew, who passed away some years back? He said to me  — and I didn’t know him at all — “It’s so great to see this place full of light.” Rest his soul. That was very affirming for me. I feel affirmed.

Dorota: Thank you, Manda — what a wonderful story. Very inspiring.
Manda: Thank you, Dorota.