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Are you ready for some magic?

I'm going to get. Are you ready for some magic? We begin today's business daily in the heart of Portugal's Alan Tejou, it's remote, rural and relaxed, with vast cork oak forests and great wine intertwined with traditional song.

The region covers a third of Portugal, but it's a place of few people and many open spaces,

and that's attracting foreigners who want to go off the grid, generating their own electricity,

and digging for their own water.

I'm Alastair Leithead, and I'm one of them.

Welcome to the place my wife, Anna, and I now call home, the Valley of the Stars.

Thank you. and I now call home, the Valley of the Stars.

It's a beautifully clear, sunny morning, and I'm taking you for a walk from here, up on our hill, down into the valley.

Anna and I moved here to the southwest coast of Alentajio during COVID, finally finding a home after years of working and living around the world. We fell in love with this stunning view

of rolling hills and valleys with the highest mountain in southern Portugal

in the distance. That's where our internet comes from by Radio Link. We bought a well-built German

brick house with a little lake and some woodland and didn't really think about what off-the-grid

meant. It all looked very normal. We had power at the flick of a switch and water in the taps

until we didn't. And that's when the trouble started. It's a wonderfully romantic idea and we don't

regret a moment of it, but a word of advice. Don't forget to ask for an instruction manual.

In tomorrow's programme, I'll get into our story

and the challenges we're facing developing an off-grid

tourists and wine-tasting lodge.

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