Nature escapes for city dwellers on Syros island

For some time we have all grown increasingly used to a sedentary lifestyle. We’ve replaced the real world with images on screens and we lost touch with nature.  Many children no longer even play outside.

For example, ask a child today what he knows about Daleks and Magpies. The National Trust in England did just that, with shocking results. Daleks, no problem, children aged 5 – 15 years could talk about them easily. Magpies? Few even knew they were birds. The NT report said “Nature is being exterminated from children’s lives”.

Children need contact with nature 

Sleeping close to the land and living simply has always been part of our yearning for another way of life. Remember The Good Life tv program from the seventies? A return to nature is still appealing, as long as we can be comfortable. No one wants to go back to the camping holidays of their youth. So holidays are the ideal time to take the children out of town and away from screens.

The Good Life, Syros is an eco-holiday for all the family 

So holidays really are the best time to connect with nature. What is the point of having lots of friends on Facebook if you have no time just to be human, watch the stars, smell the lavender and focus on your family relationships.  It was created from a small, vineyard and organic farm close to the water in a sheltered bay on Syros, in Greece.

The farm is self-sufficient in vegetables, olive oil, wine, figs and chickens eggs.  It also traps and filters rain water in the original ancient Sternas (underground water entrapments, originally accessed by bucket and pulley) Waster water is re-cycled  in new technology Bio-Filtering septic tanks. There are chickens, whose eggs visiting children love to collect. And a quiet sandy beach a short walk away, in wind free bay.

Re-juvenate your mind and body

The Good Life can’t help but focus the mind on other ways of living and communicating. There is wifi, but after watching a brilliant sunset over the sea while the snapper you bought down at the nearby harbor earlier roasts on the barbecue, the last thing you want to do is stare at your iPad. Particularly after a glass of Mavrodragono, one of the ancient grape varietals that clever new Greek winemakers have resurrected. In fact there are so many startlingly good Greek wines on offer nowadays, you’ll want to really try a few more.

But most of all, as you watch the sun go down and the stars fill the sky, you can’t help but chat and reminisce. Which is what brings us all closer together at the end of the day. Just like our technologically deprived grandparents.