Warning: this interview will make you want to sell all your belongings, go buy land and follow your dreams (it did me anyway).
Louise Middleton is one of those people who makes you question your life choices (and then some). There’s a handful of people in the world who can take a dream and make it reality, but she is one of them.
“I was a surfer and I wanted to acquire a bit of land by a surf break, that was the dream.It was the dream that totally powered me, I hold visions quite strongly. I knew that the lands shapes the design and the architectural intervention of the site, so the land needed to come first, and I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I looked for two years up and down the north coast from Deveon to Cornwall and then I found this 45 acre piece of land”
She’s the founder of Kudhva, an iconic escapist retreat offering glamping and off grid living for surfing and those who love nature. It’s created from a 45 acre disused quarry, and was a dream for Louise to bring her love of surfing to others.
Louise is no stranger to the surf, and the entire project was borne out of her love for the ocean, and the need to build and to bring people together creatively. The space has become a go to location for brands like Patagonia and Finisterre, and the iconic structures that she installed in the space have built her a following in the design world as much as in that of the outdoors.
Listen to the episode on Spotify here and Apple Podcasts here
We talk in the interview about how she got into surfing, although interestingly despite her clear passion for the sport, life is currently so busy that she’s getting very little time in the water.
"I just got on some really big waves, and I obviously felt scared, but I was just so passionate about it, loving paddling through the water, understanding waves and knowing where to go, just the sense of being so close to everything, ripples in water, sunshine making rainbows through your eyelashes”
Unbelievably this journey started with Louise as a single mum, and with kids in tow, living in a caravan on the land as they planted trees and brought the space to life, starting with a road in and out of the property to allow any of the building to happen.
Kudhva has grown far beyond its routes, and now new opportunities have arisen. An American company wants to take the iconic off ground cabin structures and sell movable glamping versions of them, capturing the retreat and serious glamping investors in the process. Some would shy away from the idea; she’s already established success after all, but not Louise.
“This opportunity has come along and you have to grab it. It’s like you make a decision: do I go for this or not? And where’s this going to take me? What gear do I need to be in to make this happen? This sort of eight years till I’m 60 I guess. For me on a personal level, it’s like - what energy do I need for this? Can I do this and do I go for it? And the answer is, yes.”
This interview is a big slap round the face to encourage you to live life in the moment and to chase down your dreams with the enthusiasm of a terrier, no matter what challenges come your way.
We cover:
How she came to have the vision for Kudhva
Her journey into surfing
Bringing people together and making them feel safe
Her history of building houses & being a designer
The challenges of converting the land
Being part of the ‘cabin porn’ book series
Expanding the concept into the US
I hope you like this one, let me know what you think
Caroline x
Board Women Founder
Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
