Gibraltarian ‘Twin Springs Glamping Retreat’ owners featured on Channel 4's ‘A New Life in the Sun’

Sid and Pauline Olivera, the owners of Twin Springs Glamping Retreat, an off-grid site in the Portuguese countryside, will feature on Channel 4's ‘A New Life in the Sun’ this week.

‘A New Life in the Sun’ is a series that follows individuals starting new lives in different locations.

Their journey from Gibraltar to the picturesque mountains near Almodovar in Southern Portugal was captured by the Channel 4 crew over six months.

Those six months of footage will be condensed down into a show that will air over six weeks, starting this Wednesday, January 31 at 4pm local time.

“We're looking forward to seeing it soon ourselves. Because there has been so much filming that we almost became part of the whole thing,” Mr Olivera told the Chronicle.

“In fact, the cameraman is now one of my friends and so it has been quite an exciting time.”

The site is situated in the Portuguese countryside and is completely off-grid, utilising solar panels for electricity and featuring two natural springs on the land, hence its name.

It is billed as a place that “is surrounded by beautiful countryside, hills, birdsong and the occasional bleating of neighbouring sheep. For stargazers we have no light pollution so the clear night skies are a stunning sight to behold.”

The couple plans to have three glamping tents, with the first one arriving soon and other two on order from the UK. The showers and toilets are all going in now and the pool is also being installed. The couple hope to welcome guests as early as April.

“The thing is we are in the middle of nowhere. And that's obviously the attraction if people want to get away from the hustle and bustle and if you want to get back to nature and the elements and so on, then it does that,” said Mr Olivera.

“But we're only 30 minutes from the Algarve. So if people did come to stay I will be doing weekly excursions and going down to the coast and taking them there if they want to.”

“Or if they want to stay here and just enjoy both peace and quiet, well, they're certainly going to have enough of that.”

It is not easy moving to another country and starting a new life, probably even more so when you are setting up a business and building something from scratch.

Mr Olivera said, “the biggest challenge has been the swimming pool to be honest, but it is all a challenge.”

“Language is one because you end up playing charades all the time. But I must say that most Portuguese on the Algarve speak English anyway. Us being in the middle of the countryside, less so.”

“But we communicate in Spanish. I speak Spanish and that helps. There's a lot of Portuguese that sounds the same as Spanish words.”

“And also I found the Portuguese people to be so accommodating and helpful in all kinds of ways.”

“Another challenging thing is to get everything right for the glamping site. Everything has been a challenge, to make sure that we have the social area, where the shower was going to go, where the toilet is going to be? Where are we going to put the tents and so on.”

“Now, we're sort of like nearly there and it's all coming to plan and it's all looking good and as we imagined it,” he added.

Despite all the hard work the couple expressed no regrets about their decision to move to the Portuguese countryside, highlighting the beauty and tranquility of their new home.

"Filming with Pauline and Sid’s adventure this summer was very thrilling,” Piero Sfredda, Executive Producer of ‘A New Life in the Sun’, told the Chronicle.

“Our directors have been with them every step of the way as they moved to Portugal into their wonderful countryside property, which had a few niggles to sort out.”

“Sidney and Pauline have been real troopers throughout, and the resulting films will provide real inspiration for the dedicated army of ‘A New Life in the Sun’ viewers.”

“It was particularly exciting and heartwarming to see how well Pauline and Sid were received by the local authorities when they reached out to share news of their business plans," they added.