From Putney Bridge to Soller – a story
Published in the Majorca Daily bulletin
Sunday 16th November 2014
Photograph by Rachel Fox
Every year the stories are plentiful of the people who arrive in the Soller Valley with all their dreams in tact. They have arrived to live and work here and they alternate between excitement and apprehension… This week’s story is of two lovely people who have chosen Soller as the place to fulfil the next chapter in their lives and who, in my opinion will be amongst the 2014 intake to watch.
Phoebe and Christian arrived in Soller in December 2013 from Putney in London to look at properties and make a huge business decision. They had decided to change the direction of their lives and combine a home base for Phoebe with a work/home base for Christian. They knew what they were looking for and had searched most of Europe for their dream location and property. The Alps were a favoured spot and the Sierra Nevada could have fitted the bill.
Dr Tamsin Lewis is Christian’s friend and sports colleague. She is one of Britain ’s most successful professional triathletes. In 2009 Tamsin won the World Amateur title in Olympic distance Triathlon and was offered a professional licence by British Triathlon. From 2010-2014 Tamsin has been a regular on international podiums in a variety of triathlon distances whilst continuing to work part time as a Doctor. In 2014 Tamsin became an Ironman Champion – winning Ironman UK on her first attempt at the distance. It was Tamsin who told Phoebe and Christian about the wonders of Majorca for cycling, triathlon and Iron Man competitions. Her introduction was the reason they made their first trip to Majorca to seek out the cycling locations of Pollensa and Soller.
Christian Palmer is a successful marketing consultant building brands for major companies from a smart London base. This was a great life for years combining a job he loved with competing in the Iron Man, cycling and Triathlon world of Tamsin Lewis at weekends. As his career progressed and Phoebe’s travels for work meant that their home base did not have to be London they decided to make a break for the mountains and live a different life. This was when the search began for the location and property that would fulfil their criteria. The master plan included organising high end cycling holidays for sporting groups and their partners and providing some of the accommodation. A series of buying and renovating their London flats had provided them with a down payment on a new life. They had a small nest egg and a good idea, all that was missing was the right location.
Phoebe Masters comes from a theatrical family and rubbed shoulders with actors and other famous people from a young age. Her father, the actor Christopher Masters ran a theatre company and she acted and danced through her childhood and wanted to go to stage school to finish off the experience. Her family were having none of it and would have preferred her to take the medicine or law route. An artistic compromise was reached and a degree mixing Drama and Business fitted her for a career with the BBC. A career producing many of the nightly programmes we are all familiar such as Poirot and Linda La Plante’s crime series progressed to the film world of big budgets and big decisions.The freelance world of the Film Producer gave her a life of often being away from her London base and working in exotic locations throughout the world. Her most recent work was on independent British films apart from Madding Crowd for 20th Century Fox and working in development on the new Freddie Mercury film for Sony Pictures – both in the US . Her work will continue to take her to different places but she now wanted her house and home to be in the mountains where Christian could cycle and she could walk and they could both enjoy the beach and Spanish life.
The exploration of all the wonderful things Pollensa had to offer was finished and then it was time to set off for the appointment with the Estate Agent from Deya who was to show them some Soller properties. They emerged out of the Soller tunnel and had their ‘Soller moment’. This is a well catalogued state of mind that affects some people – it’s when you begin that mountain road down from the tunnel into Soller and you wonder where you are. Is this a place, a state of mind, a City – who knows but the sheer majesty and beauty got hold of their souls and they knew they had found their place in the universe. From then on they had achieved half their goal; they knew where they wanted their new life to begin.
Their brief to the Agent was an interesting one – find us a property on the edge of Soller easily accessible for cyclists. We need room to renovate or build long tern letting accommodation. A pool would be nice and a garden and a really interesting, historic building would be the icing on the cake. We are not daunted by the amount of work we have to do because Christian loves to get involved with architectural projects and the restoration of a really old quirky building would be the fulfilment of a lifetime’s ambition.
It has to be said that the majority of agents were not even interested in this brief – probably because it seemed fanciful and unrealistic. The boys from Deya were not daunted; they understood the dream and thought they just might have the most perfect property that ticked all the boxes. The Olive Oil Soap Factory of Soller was just waiting to be discovered. It has always been there and its tall chimney is a feature of the landscape to the left as you drive between the tunnel and the port. This is a building that had been partially converted and needed a fair amount of work to see their dream even begin to peep through. They are young, enthusiastic, and full of energy for the project and the place and have a vision.
Phoebe and Christian arrived in Majorca after never having been here before, they fell in love with Soller as they emerged out of Soller tunnel and offered for their house and business base 6 days later.
I sat in their huge kitchen enjoying the space and their story. They told me how in the past this place was one of the many factories of Soller and olive oil soap was the main production of this part of the building. Next door was a textile factory and this small area was a mini industrial estate at the turn of the century. The history of the building had been researched by a previous owner and tells the tale of Soller’s rich industrial past when goods were shipped from the Port of Soller to France and the rest of Europe . Soller products were highly prized then as they are beginning to be again now.
The Soap Factory is preparing to become the base for MA10 Cycles S L. This is hard man, expensive bike rides for the people who think nothing of spending 7000 pounds or more on those two wheels. This is high end, year round cycling for people who won’t have any trouble getting to the Island in the winter. Their obsession with their sport and desire to ride the mountains in the off season will make their journey here irrelevant. These are the people who will bring their bikes with them and enjoy being at one with their own machine as they scale the three mountains that lead out of Soller. You can’t cycle through the tunnel so the only way is up and that’s exactly how they like it.
Phoebe and Christian are intelligent people with a business plan and model. Phoebe deals with million pound budgets and deadlines all the time so is a force to be reckoned with by the local builders of Soller. They are doing a great job on the Soap Factory for this ambitious couple and I think they know they have met employers with extremely high standards. Christian knows about branding and marketing and is already talking to the cycling clubs and fraternities of the UK in readiness for the season. Their week of decision making has moved into serious, detailed planning for their first year of business.
Soller weaves a spell on some people and makes their dreams come true. The omens are great for this couple as the cycling world seriously discover the extreme sport of cycling in this location. The soap factory is going to be a great place to stay as well as a long term architectural project and we all look forward to watching its progress.
The Soller Valley is delighted to welcome Phoebe and Christian and wish them all the luck in the world as they fly in this place. The business they will bring here and the introductions to a new set of sporting tourists make them doubly welcome.
Welcome home Phoebe and Christian…
