Fundraiser: Help Kate & Owen to find their new home

December 5, 2025

[UPDATE: We originally launched this page describing a campervan, but we have changed this to just a van, as that is more within our financial reach now that we cannot get a deposit.]

Hi everyone, we are Kate & Owen from SunBeings and we are currently in need of financial help.

Seeking: a van

To help us move on from our current place, find new opportunities and community, and to share our gifts in society.

For those who are newer to the platform, Kate is one of the main contributors to SunBeings and has shared some of our off-grid life in her videos and blogs. Owen also contributes his music and creativity and you may have seen his interview with Carina in the Conversation Series.

We have followed our deepest instructions always, heeding our intuition, taking our responsibility to lead our own change, and try to directly embody our values in the world.

We always aim to stay practical, yet take the risks when a dream beckons.

Those instructions took us far out of our old lives, concepts and comforts — and it brought us to a semi-pristine wilderness in a mountain forest, to a ruined village where nature’s voice is especially strong.

We initially hoped to attract community here – it is free land for anyone – and we put great effort into that, but we soon learnt this is a place only for rebirth, not plans.

Through the challenges, fears and silence, we feel born anew through this land. But now, after 19 months, we need to leave. And this is where we are asking for help.

It’s rough here, with very basic shelters. There is no hot water nor taps, baths or showers. Our kitchen is outdoors. The buildings are falling apart and badly built, and do not protect us much from the heat or cold. Summers of 40 degrees or winters below freezing are tough. The clean drinking water ran out for more than 6 months, the hosepipe water is unreliable, and our electricity is failing at the same time. The nearest town with shops is at least a 4 hour walk away. We have no transport, a very uneven road, and insufficient funds to rent or buy a car. (Our part-time neighbours bring us water and food by van.)

We want to reach out and return to society, So here we are! We’re doing our best, but it looks like we cannot get out of here alone.

It’s a huge stretch on our savings to cover both a van and the rental costs of a new place. It would be much easier financially to stay here, but then we cannot share our creativity very easily with the world. This is a move we must make to honour our gifts and the world that brought us them.

As such, any donations towards our big move will be gratefully received — and put to a worthy cause!

We have given all of ourselves in great care to this village, with a dream to open it up to others. The village will remain here for anyone to find, but it’s our duty to move on.

After 19 months here, we are craving access to hot water, privacy and rest. We are also desperate to play music in public, share our art with others, and devote more time to SunBeings, from a place with reliable electricity!

Our hope is to receive enough donations to help us complete the van purchase — and get a couple of months’ rest before we leap into the new. That should be enough to get us on our feet again, as we remain very resourceful and adaptable in spirit.

We’re also keen to hear of any supportive place of rest in the UK that might serve as a landing place.

Kate would like to thank everyone for their donations to SunBeings as this has allowed us to continue the work we do here. Kate works very hard to maintain and update SunBeings, but lately the exhaustion of off-grid life has prevented her from maintaining her contributions in the way she would like. She would love more energy to give to SunBeings again, as nurturing our community is her passion.

We know many others are also with few financial reserves. We ask only because we must. We want to model the world where everyone’s needs can naturally be met because nobody is afraid to be natural: free just to ask when in need, to give when inspired, or wait if there’s no movement. We think that normalising free exchange would enrich everyone and deprive nobody, so we hope our asking brings that forward for everyone!

There is culturally much shame and judgement around asking for help, but when you have tried for so long to meet your own needs, and it is not coming naturally, then we can’t feel it is disempowering us to ask. On the contrary – it would be unhealthy not to.

If you would like any more information, or just to reach out, please do ask us!

Thank you,
from Kate & Owen