Off Grid Girona

Off Grid Girona was founded by Gerard Greene, formerly co-founder of YOTEL, the concept that changed how a generation of travellers thought about city stays. His move to the hills above Girona represents the kind of full pivot that takes genuine conviction: a fast-paced urban career set down in favour of a Catalan farmhouse and a slower way of building something. The restoration, led in collaboration with Girona-based designer Ariadna Puigdomenech, has worked with the building rather than against it, adding contemporary touches in limewash, terracotta, and reclaimed wood without erasing what was already there. Bathrooms feature hand-cut La Bisbal tiles and local stone basins; amenities are from Olively; bed linen is by Bekume.

The grounds were designed by Campestre Studio as a sensory landscape of edible herbs, aromatic plants, and perennials that shift with the seasons. The honesty bars, stocked with local wines, craft beers, and small-batch coffee, are as much a philosophy as a feature. A growing network of nearby farmers, cheesemakers, and bakers informs the kitchen, with plans to expand what the land itself produces.

Gerard himself is rarely far away. An avid cyclist, he moves through the property with the quiet energy of someone who hasn’t fully left the pace of his previous life behind, but has found a far better use for it. He checks in on bikes, asks guests where they’ve been, and occasionally pulls up a chair at the communal table. The woodland mouse he rescued by the pool, and his Labrador who has become the unofficial mascot of the house, feel like extensions of the same spirit: attentive, warm, and completely unforced. The communal table is where it all converges each evening: the resident chef’s daily-changing menu, guided by hyper-local seasonal produce, served family-style to a crowd that arrives as strangers and rarely stays that way. By our second morning, we had been invited by fellow guests — Americans who had extended their stay after a conference in Barcelona — to join a hike through the surrounding countryside and lunch in a neighbouring town. That is Off Grid working exactly as intended.