Darren Cronian: Travel Rants and Mud Hotels / Vacation Homes

Picture Adrère Amellal Oasis

Darren Cronian was the guy behind the Travel Rants Blog. Unfortunately he discontinued the blog later. Earlier I posted already about him.

I have a weak spot for him, because, in comments to a post about The Happy Hotelier he urged me to go on with this Blog and work hard on it, which I did since.

In a recent interview in Europe a la carte we learn a bit more about Darren:

His business is World Wide Holiday Homes. He developped this site into a business after his parents bought a holiday home in Spain which they wanted to rent. Ha ha, he obliged them by building a whole imperium of a website around the idea of setting up a site to rent the family property.

He was once asked to find a mud hut in Kenya as a vacation home and found it. This is not so strange and also not so difficult, as more than 2/3 of the world population lives in a mud house. Only we in the West usually are not aware of this fact. An important source for anything about adobe, earth, mud or straw bale building is this impressive Blog: Earth Architecture.

Actually I had collected already some links to mud hotels and vacation rentals in the past:

• Adobe Abode in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Adobe Desert which has 5 properties in Phoenix, Arizona
• Adrère Amellal Oasis in Egypt.
• Dixon Adobe. Near Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Sabi Sabi. A luxury Earth Lodge in South Africa
• El Paradero. A Santa Fe B&B.
• The Hakka Round Castles in Yongdin, China are worth a visit
• Mill Hill Cottage in Little Steeping, Lincolnshire, UK.
• Sidri Dis hotel in Tunisia.
• Even in the very luxurious Vigilius Mountain resort you can sleep between clay walls.

Out there there must be some more very luxurious earth lodges as well.

As sustainable or green holidays are becoming more and more an important factors in traveling, I believe earthen, clay, mud or adobe accommodations will get more and more attention and are worth while a consideration. Also in my own place I have experimented successfully with pigmented clay plastered walls that contain the central heating pipes.

Finally: a special way of spending your holiday is a working holiday where you learn how to build or decorate a home with earth/clay/mud.

Who has more sustainable accommodation suggestions?