The inspiration farm and the story behind it.
Some places are built from bricks and timber. Finca Feliz was built from a question.
What would you do if you received 86,400 every single day?
86,400 isn't money. It's seconds. And the answer, eventually, was this: build a place where people can use them wisely.
Our Home
Finca Feliz is our home.
Mine and Benoit's. And Theo's. And Ellie's. And a bunch of chickens.
We live here, on this old farm domain from 1830 in Oostkamp.
And we love nothing more than opening the gate and welcoming people in.
The Domain
Finca Feliz is a small farm domain in Oostkamp, West Flanders. Named after the Spanish word for a farm estate — a finca — it is exactly that.
A domain. A home. A place with a soul.
At the entrance, a weeping willow and a pond welcome you in. In the garden, two oak trees offer shade and stillness. At the back, the view stretches over a tree garden, a vegetable garden and Flemish willows — all the way to the castle forest beyond the fields. A forest you can actually walk into, via a small hiking path at the end of our quiet dead-end street.
This is not a venue. It is a living landscape. And it changes something in people the moment they arrive.
For me — Friedl — hosting is in my blood.
I started travelling as a teenager, raised by parents who believed every year deserved a new destination.
As a student I lived in Spain, interned in Ecuador, volunteered in Thailand.
I Couchsurfed my way across the world to travel cheap — and when I came home, I opened my spare room to Couchsurfers so I could keep the feeling alive.
When Airbnb launched in 2014, I was on it from day one.
And when we bought this farm — with a half-built cottage and a barn that barely kept out the rain — I knew exactly what it could become.
Who We Are
Benoit didn’t take a little of convincing. 😊
He wasn't the born globetrotter, but an adventurer all the same. He grew into the dream alongside me — and today, he is the beating heart of this place in every practical sense. He fixes what breaks. He tends the vegetable garden with a passion for permaculture and food forests. He moved a jacuzzi with three friends (barely enough). And he keeps our chickens happy.
I am the face — the bookings, the welcome, the interiors.
Benoit is the hands — the garden, the craft, the care.
Together, we are Finca Feliz.
The Name
Finca Feliz was born over a rare quiet dinner — our kids were one and three, so quiet dinners were scarce.
We were sitting in Blanco in Knokke — a beautifully designed restaurant in the old pink terracotta colour we now use everywhere in our homes — dreaming about Finca Barlovento in Colombia, where we had stayed just before our wedding.
Farm domains in South America are often called Finca. I remembered it from my time in Ecuador too. Living on a characteristic old farm domain from 1830, the name felt obvious.
Then looking for an adjective — something starting with F, to alliterate with Finca — I thought of Felice, our daughter's second name. Aligning it with Finca, I simply switched the spelling to ‘feliz’ — the Spanish word for ‘happy’.
Finca Feliz. Happy farm. Born over terracotta walls and a cocktail.
Our Story
WellNest opened in 2021. What had been a half-built cottage with no toilet and a broken sliding window became a warm wellness escape with sauna and jacuzzi. We rebuilt almost everything from scratch.
The barn was always the long game. Twenty years away, we thought.
Then one conversation changed everything. A couple staying at Finca Feliz asked why we hadn't turned the barn into a holiday home. We said we had no money. But the idea didn't leave us.
We went to the bank. We changed plans entirely.
2025. Barn of Bliss was born. Not in twenty years. Now.
Heartwaves
Finca Feliz is one expression of a broader mission.
Heartwaves is Friedl's coaching and training practice — a ripple effect of insight, inspiration and connection that starts with one person and spreads outward.
With 18 years of experience as an HR professional and a background in psychology, True Leadership coaching, Insights Discovery and yoga, Friedl helps leaders, entrepreneurs and individuals find their way back to themselves.
Out of their heads. Into their hearts.
Where the wisest, most authentic version of themselves already lives.
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Starting November 2026 | 8 Tuesday eveningsThis autumn and winter, Barn of Bliss becomes the setting for something new.
Inner Space: Restore from the Heart is a restorative group program for people who feel the pace of their lives catching up with them. Still working, still pushing — but sensing that if nothing changes, something will.
Over 8 Tuesday evenings, Friedl and co-facilitator Ann Nackaerts — oncological nurse, relaxation therapist and yoga nidra teacher — guide a small group toward physical, emotional and energetic restoration.
Not a return to how things were.
A transformation toward how things could truly be.