A life in complete peace and seclusion. Peter and Valeria have embarked on this adventure. They live in a remote house at an altitude of 1000 m in the middle of nature, surrounded only by forest, no neighbours far and wide.

Peter had been dreaming of living like this for many years and found the house even before he met Valeria. Before that, he had read over 200 exposés and visited around 40 houses until he found his dream property: a 300-year-old farmhouse in the community of Gütenbach in the Black Forest.

Most recently, the "Ganterhäusle" was used by the state of Baden-Württemberg as a forester's lodge, but when Peter bought it four years ago, it was on the verge of decay.

Nevertheless, it fulfilled a childhood dream: "As a schoolboy, I hiked the Westweg for the first time, from Pforzheim to Basel, once along the length of the Black Forest. Later, I did it a second time, and that's when I got this idea that one day I'd like to have a house, at the top of a valley, in absolute solitude with a view down below."

In the end, the renovation work took three years and required the know-how of a wide variety of trades. The house, which dates back to 1720, is a listed building. The architect and carpenters set themselves the task of preserving as much as possible of the old building fabric and maintaining the character of the old farmhouse from the Black Forest.

Another special challenge was the creation of a pond with over 200 cubic metres of water. This was a requirement of the fire brigade in order to obtain planning permission. 140 lorry loads of earth were needed to support the pond, which lies on a very steep slope. In summer, it is used as a swimming pond.

There is also a water source near the house that supplies them with drinking water. The water is so clean that it does not need any further treatment. The spring is checked annually. Since the Ganterhäusle is located so far away in the forest, it is not possible to connect it to the next larger sewage treatment plant. Therefore, Peter and Valeria have their own small sewage treatment plant for their waste water, which is located below the house in the garden.

They generate their own electricity via the solar system on the roof of the garage, and the wood from the forest is also used to run the central pellet heating system. The new co-inhabitants have also recently benefited from this: two Norwegian forest cats.

The work was completed almost one and a half years ago and Peter has been living in his new home with his partner Valeria ever since. The "Forsthaus mit Weitblick", as Peter calls it, is located at an altitude of over 1,000 metres, in the middle of nature with a view over the Simonswälder valley to the Vosges mountains in the district of Schwarzwald-Baar. Peter and Valeria have traded their respective homes on Lake Constance and in South Tyrol for the seclusion of the Black Forest. Valeria works in music mediation, Peter is an entrepreneur and coach and can work from anywhere. That's why he had been looking for such a home for a long time, which he can also use for seminars or coaching sessions. On the one hand, he appreciates the connection to the fibre optic network, but on the other hand, he also appreciates the seclusion.

In their new home, the two now have about 400 square metres of living space. On the ground floor there is a living and dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a large meditation room. This room used to be the cowshed and, like the entire house, was extensively renovated. On the first floor are Valeria's office and three guest rooms. In the threshing floor, under the roof, another large, open living space with an integrated kitchen is currently being built. Peter and Valeria's bedroom and bathroom are in an annex that was last a garage.

In Valeria's and Peter's imagination, the house should be preserved for another 300 years - that is what they have designed the elaborate and cost-intensive renovation work to achieve.

A film by Cécilia Marchat (editing, sound), Feline Gerhardt (camera), Oleg Kauz (camera) and Farina Hasak (editing). Production: EIKON Media GmbH, commissioned by SWR.

00:00 300-year-old forester's lodge
00:25 Entrance area
00:43 Forester's house
02:12 Parlour
03:20 Dining room
04:02 Kitchen
05:36 Meditation Room
07:28 Staircase
08:34 Bedroom
09:35 Bathroom
10:46 Old attic
12:45 Outdoor area

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