WildWall
Experiences
Location
As you might expect I chose a classic Great Wall landscape as the place to acquire my first farmhouse beside the Wall.
On the edge of a village within a valley on the northern side of the Great Wall, ‘Western Fence’ lies with Huairou District, about 67 km directly north of the centre of Beijing.
Since acquiring ‘The Farmhouse’ in 1998 we have also acquired the valley’s old school, rescued it from a state of dereliction and made it into a courtyard. We call this larger property ‘The Barracks’.
(Above: The Barracks, Below: The Farmhouse.)
Address: The Barracks, Xi Zha Zi Cun, Huairou Qu, Beijing.
Contact: 010-84166647 (Email reccomended)
Email: william@wildwall.com
Environs
Remains of the Ming Great Wall made of quarried stone blocks and bricks, and dotted with watchtowers, envelop ‘our valley’. The ridge lines crowned by the Wall are on average 850 metres above sea level, while the peaks rise to just over 1,000 metres above sea level. Marking the northern side of the valley is a 1,600 metre high peak.
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In total there is about 20 kms of Great Wall on our doorstep.
The valley floor itself is farmed while the mountain slopes are thickly forested.
Facilities
Most of our WildWall trips are held at the Barracks. We have nine guest rooms, which includes two adjoining pairs of rooms. Each room can take 3 persons in comfort, although in most cases they are occupied by one or two guests.
Our courtyard garden has bushes and gingko trees, and vegetables in summer.
We have a large common room which is spacious. In winter this room is heated by a wood-burning pot-belly stove.
We have four flush toilets of western style and an outside 'dry' toilet for using in the depth of winter when the water freezes. For washing we keep it simple, using traditional enamel basins full of warm water in showering cubicles.
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Style
The style of our trips is ‘back to basics’ luxury. Many of our guests are living in China’s and Asia’s megacities where there’s five-star everything if you want it. That’s easy to get. What we offer is something much rarer — solitude during the day, silence and stars at night, fresh water, traditionally furnished rooms and slow-cooked home-made food .
Footprint and Sustainability
Our properties are existing rural properties that have undergone minimal rebuilding and redecoration. All work was carried out by local farmers. Apart from our family we employ local cooks and helpers, and local drivers from Beijing.
We are pioneers in environmental awareness work in China. We believe in leaving any place we visit in better condition than when we found it — especially in the case of the Great Wall. We always carry garbage bags with us when walking.
Food
We have western-style breakfasts, with fresh coffee of course. Lunches and dinners are Chinese. Our style of cooking is ‘healthy Chinese’ with no MSG used, and very low salt and oil. All ingredients are purchased by Mrs. Lindesay from reliable local shops in Beijing, where she does her own family shopping. All cooking is under the design and direction of Mrs. Lindesay. We easily cater for vegetarians and vegans — many of our dishes are made from veggies only, beancurd, eggs and fresh trout.
As well as free flow teas (Chinese, English, Twinings fruit teas), fresh coffee, mineral water and sodas we also offer local beer. You're most welcome to bring your own wine.
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