About

WELCOME

Nestled in the heart of Portugal, Freedom Ville – Malhadil was once an abandoned village until our vision breathed new life into its deserted ruins. Transformed into a bustling boutique resort, it now stands as a sanctuary of growth, creation, and love—a healing home for the open-hearted. We invite dreamers, travelers, doers, thinkers, creators, believers, and free spirits to join us in crafting the next chapter of our shared journey.

 

In 2021, we acquired the abandoned village of Malhadil, situated just 20 minutes west of Castelo Branco. With its abundant natural beauty and hidden gems waiting to be discovered, it serves as the perfect backdrop for our vision. Moving from Amsterdam to Portugal in 2022, we embarked on the journey of realizing our dream—developing our village, regenerating our 14 hectares of land, and creating a thriving new meeting place and learning experience.

 

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Our vision is clear: to revive Malhadil and create Freedom Ville—a piece of paradise where people can live freely, surrounded by nature’s abundance. We strive to foster a sense of community, breaking down imaginary boundaries through retreats, volunteer programs, and artist residencies. Our open-air art gallery serves as a testament to our commitment to blending the past with the future, creating a diverse audience united by a shared love for creativity, nature, and community building.

OUR VISION

The world is our home. The sky is the limit. Our vision is to revive the village of Malhadil. To create a piece of paradise called Freedom Ville. An environment where people can live free. Our family permanent, and our guests temporarily. For holidays, events or special retreats. A place where we live Independent of institutions and supported by the community. A place where we can explore ourselves and all interconnectivity. Break through programs and patterns that create imaginary boundaries. We want to create a space where nature thrives and people smile. Where life comes in first, and not in second place. 

OUR HISTORY

Change the Game

We are an entrepreneurial family tribe from Amsterdam with four kids. For more than 12 years we have been working in the hospitality business in our beautiful city, creating unique meeting places on special locations and organizing uncountable events. The Covid crisis gave us the wake up call we needed, to organize and prioritize our life in a different way. We decided to sell our businesses and house in Amsterdam and pregnant of number four, start a new life in Portugal. A life that is further away from the system and closer to nature. A life in which we still have space to manifest our dreams independent of banks or financial investors. A life that is closer to our children, closer to nature and closer to our hearts. 

VALUES

  • Respect mother nature
  • Sharing is caring
  • Save seeds save life
  • Work hard play hard
  • Share knowledge
  • Make love not war
  • Don't hurry, you might run out of time
  • Seek freedom within
  • Enjoy the process of creation
  • Trust life and life will carry you
  • Walk through the shadows and shine in the sun

BUSINESS IN AMSTERDAM

Canvas, Volkshotel

We started our first café, restaurant, exhibition room and club on the top floor of the old newspaper building of the Volkskrant on the Wibautstraat in Amsterdam in 2007. This started of as a temporary project. Thijs won a pitch with his business plan Canvas to start a place that would feel as a  living room for the artists that filled all the former offices of the building and connect them to the neighbors and visitors. This building and the other 2 buildings that were part of the old newspaper triangle were on the demolition list and planned to exist no longer than 7 years. When we started the street we were located, was still considered to be the ugliest street of the city. The surrounding neighbourhood was not very attractive, so urban planners were already preparing development plans to give this area a facelift in looks and reputation. We, among other hospitality projects that followed us, like club TROUW and restaurant BAUT, played an important role in this pre-development phase, attracting a lot of locals and international people to the neighborhood.
During these crisis years, development plans changed and new owners decided to renovate in stead of demolish the buildings in the newspaper triangle. Giving new life to the old buildings.
Canvas finally got future perspective and we became partner in the new project. Together we created the Volkshotel, with Canvas, Doka and Werkplaats as the F&B outlets in which we became partner until the end of 2015.

Roest

In 2010 we were asked to start a new hospitality business on the old industrial island of Oostenburg in the center of the city. A beautiful blindspot that due to its former industrial function, had not been very accessible to the public for years. We negotiated favourable rental terms in exchange for the commitment to put a spotlight on this island in preparation of the urban development that was planned after 2018.
We immediately fell in love with the place and created Roest. An edgy urban oasis with a city beach, self service concept and an overload of cultural programming in the warehouse and cafe.
Roest, this child of the financial crisis was blessed with a lot of room for experiment from the municipality, and an exceptional amount of space for a location as central as this one. Roest became a playground and hangout for all ages, and a breeding ground for talent and creativity. It was a place where crazy ideas found a home and nothing seemed impossible. In the 9 years that we have been operational we organized and realized more than we could have ever expected. Festivals, theater shows, classical concerts, dance events, markets, corporate events, sports events, club nights, film nights, waterpistol and snowballs fights, and many more events. Roest became widely know for its vibe, diversity and uniqueness in and over borders. It was a magical place during a magical time, where together with all our guests, staff, creatives, partners, program makers and contributors we created memories for life and a little piece of history for the city of Amsterdam.
We were in the middle of the renovation for re-opening when we decided we had to let Roest go.

AMSTERDAM ROEST

Vrijland Festival

In 2012 we started with a new Dutch liberation festival on the 5th of May. The day we celebrate the liberation from the second world war. Even though this day is only a banking holiday every one in five years, we decided a cause a great as freedom deserved some special attention. We organized Vrijland twice on Roest’s location and after that we moved to IJburg. After the last edition in 2017 we weren’t able to arrange new permits for a suitable location within the city of Amsterdam. So let’s seen if, when and where another edition of Vrijland might appear.

VRIJLAND FESTIVAL

RE-BELL SHOP

In 2015 Nadia started a sustainable fashion shop with her friend and designer Blazinbell. Bell has been a fashion pioneer for over 15 years. She mastered the technique of patchwork, because of the ease in which you can recycle pieces of fabric. Patchwork and the use of recycled denim, became her trademark has the famous colored trackpants, probably the most known and popular item. Nadia was so inspired by Bell’s artistic and sustainable vision about fashion that the started working together. After a year of traveling around with their Mercedes Hanomag camper shop, they decided it was time for a real home base. Re-bell Shop was born on the Czaar Peterstraat in December 2016. A beautiful street in Amsterdam with specialty shops only. On the top floor of the shop was a atelier where all the clothes for the home brand Blazinbell were produced. Alongside the shop became known for the customized orders, funky repairs, and beautiful pre selection of several conscious fashion brands. The shop will close by the end of January 2023. The partners decided not to push on more sales, but to shift focus to sharing knowledge about sustainable fashion and the art of sewing, in workshops. Both online and offline.

RE-BELL SHOP

QUARANTINE

In 2018 we started a small cafe restaurant Bombarie around the corner from Roest. It was situated on the ground floor of the former Quarantine building next to the Lloyd hotel. Thijs’ parents had squatted this building in 1981 when his mother was pregnant with him. So when this place was for sale, we jumped right in. After the lockdowns we transformed Bombarie into the Quarantine. A little deli shop with our own Sangria line and regular dissident parties. Luckily we were able to sell this soon after we made the decision to leave Amsterdam. We had our last party on the day the C-pass was introduced into the Dutch hospitality business. Some things happen for a reason.

DE QUARANTINE

Freedom Ville gallery

A little sneak peek into our village for the curious minds!

FREEDOM VILLE

The sky is the limit

The world is our home

ACCOMMODATIONS

FREEDOM VILLE

CONTACT

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