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Leaving the street to a place without electricity to build a ‘Dalat homestay’

Le Huong and her husband (26 years old) left Thanh Hoa city and moved to Nhu Thanh district to build a “miniature Da Lat” to live and do business in photography.

With a passion for travel, before the Covid-19 epidemic, the 9x couple traveled together across provinces and cities across the country and once made a trip across Vietnam “for a lifetime”. In particular, Da Lat city with cool air, peaceful pace of life, year-round fragrant flowers, and romantic pine hill scenery made Huong and her husband “fall in love” from the first meeting.

Leaving the street to a place without electricity to build a ‘Dalat homestay’
The farm stay area is in the middle of the flower garden of Huong and her husband.


In early 2020, Huong and her husband decided to leave the town for the hills in Nhu Thanh district, build a farm stay, simulate a homestay in the middle of the flower hills of Da Lat. Another part, this decision comes from the arrival of the Covid-19 epidemic, making it difficult for the couple’s photography studio business. They also just welcomed their first daughter, making Huong and her child need space to rest and relax. Huong shared that when deciding to change the living environment, the family’s economy was not rich, so they planned to do each thing in a rolling fashion.

“I had the idea that when I get old, I will go back to the forest to live because I love nature, but the plan took place earlier than planned because of the epidemic. I also want my child to have a quiet, fresh living environment, lots of experiences with nature. and similar to the city of thousands of flowers”, Huong said and believed that the decision on the living hill was the right one.

The 2-hectare hilly land of Huong and her husband is about 70 km from the center of Thanh Hoa city and 3 km from the main road. Huong said that she bought the farmland 4 years ago with her savings, then they planted some fruit trees and perennials such as longan, mango, litchi, toad, guava, papaya, custard apple…

In the days of building a house on hilly land, she and her husband faced many difficulties because of the bumpy road, isolation from the residential area, and the time of rebuilding at the time of the northern weather in the hottest period. Huong still remembers that in the 3 hot months of 2020, even the spring water was dry, the surrounding plants and trees died, her husband and wife took water from a small leak to both life and build a house, while the electricity was used by generators. At that time, their daughter was a few months old, so the couple often had to go back and forth between their old residence and the hill to take care of the child and complete the plan.

Huong shared that in the early days of coming here, there were only her family of 3 and her sister with a very empty and wild hill, not to mention that the phone signal here was also intermittent. Many times, she and her husband feel a crisis both financially and mentally, because the whole day is busy with taking care of children, working, and cleaning. From a makeup artist holding a brush and applying makeup to a customer, Huong has to get used to hoeing and weeding. However, she said she was lucky to receive encouragement from family and friends.












Hands-on in the garden, she and her husband learned about farm care experiences online and in books, although the experience was not there, so many batches of vegetables and crops failed because of worms and aphids. However, she still decided not to use chemical fertilizers but made IMO compost from kitchen waste and plants.

Over time, Huong and her husband gradually got used to and loved the quiet and peaceful space of this place. Especially in the process of farming with the help of her brother and father, they will gather together in their free time. Now she has experience in seed selection, nursery, soil treatment, and how to take care of a good green vegetable garden.

Currently, after nearly 2 years of construction, farm stay has entered the finishing stage, with full solar power, wind energy, and water system, as well as automatic irrigation. Instead of spending nearly 12 hours gardening as before, it now takes her and her husband 3-4 hours to visit the garden, water it, and plant more green vegetables and tubers such as corn and beans. They also have a fish pond, beekeeping, 200 chickens for eggs and meat, so the food for daily meals is still full and varied.

The rest of the day she and her sister take on more design jobs, sewing clothes, selling online, and making decorative crafts for the farm. Currently, the farm is not completed, so Huong and her husband limit guests to experience, but mainly welcome friends and guests to rest, organize parties and combine photos. In the near future, they will create a Glamping model campsite (high-class, romantic camping), to welcome guests to experience.




Huong shared that now, when the Covid-19 epidemic is still complicated in many localities, her family is very lucky because she lives isolated in the middle of nature, where the air is fresh, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. . She and her husband no longer have the pressure of space and food because they can provide themselves. Especially, they have time to be by their side, make friends and take care of their children during their childhood years. They also learn about Homeschooling methods (teaching children to learn at home), to be suitable for work and still ensure a school environment for their children. Every weekend, her family will welcome relatives to visit and gather at the farm.

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