Living OFF Grid. Jeremy Cometto-Lingenheim

It’s an inspiring and emotional experience meeting up with Jeremie to see what’s lead him to his big lifestyle change, leaving behind a house and all the home comforts for a more simple life.

He’s not lazing about though! Running 4 restaurants and leading by example. I asked Jeremie what lead him to ditch all his belongings and build a home in a truck. He tells me of an experience he had with his son Dagobert. A weekend in Norfolk. They stayed in a simple hut on an organic farm, no electricity, no heating, where you had to fetch water for your bath, fill the boiler, light the fire to heat it, and only then would the water run hot. It made him realise he wanted to teach his son early how things work, so he doesn’t take it for granted. He saw Dagobert was flourishing. That same weekend he pulled a carrot out of the ground for the first time.

“We can’t wait for people to change the laws. This is my protest. By trying to do individual action that changes immediately and every day the way that me and my son live. ”

The truck itself is amazing. A 45K refurb. A familiar way of living, tastefully done, of course, like the restaurants. Designed by Jeremie (and Dagobert), he bought the truck as a wreck, the structure had to be re-done, re-balanced, then they started on the interior. Jeremie surrounds himself and his son with natural materials that are conducive to their well being. Only things of necessity, a few books and the odd piece of art, a myriad of textures, no space is wasted. There’s room for himself and Bear to sleep, a sofa bed come double bed, a wardrobe, a kitchen and a toilet, and still room to sit and chat.

Over a cup of nettle tea, made with water Jeremie has collected (from some land he has in Essex - less polluted than our London rain!) and filtered himself with charcoal, we chat about the practicalities. That’s what I really want to know. How it is, how he’s done it, if he’s happy. If it’s hard giving up the space and the central heating.

I ask him what’s his favourite thing. He talks about waking up and straight away being in nature. As much as you can be in London, under the stars and the tree canopies. He talks about the freedom of leaving everything behind.

The worst thing, he says is the cold, although, it’s only really bad for 4 weeks he says. He’s definitely stocked up on jumpers and warm clothes.

The truck has 2 1.5kw solar panels on top, which provide him enough electricity for his kettle, cooking, his phone charger and a light if he needs it. He has a big sunroof and tries to park under a lamppost when he can to make use of free electricity from the grid ;). There’s a water butt on top too, which collects the water he uses for his washing up and washing. So, he’s all set up it seems!

I wonder if he’s had any problems with people in the area, wondering what he’s doing? Not a thing! Not even a curious neighbour. No knock on the door. He’s careful not to draw attention to himself, he keeps the truck immaculate and from the outside, you wouldn’t know someone was living there. We don’t linger outside for long. There’s no fire, or heating, or smoke coming from the truck.

He’s been doing his homework too, one book leads to 5 more, which lead to 5 more. He’s learning about ‘no dig’; a new method of laying compost on top of the land and growing from the compost without disturbing the soil at all and his new restaurant in Cornwall applies this method. The chefs and staff work the land, and they use what they grow. It’s harder in London as he has to rely on suppliers. But I’m not here to talk restaurants. I want to know the practicalites.. what does he do with Bear for fun? How do they wash? How does the toilet work???

Himself and Dagobear climb a lot. Jeremy likes him to do anything practical and skill based. There are a few climbing centres nearby. Jeremie tells me actually you have a lot of time when you give up all the things that you don’t really need to do. This leaves time for him to spend with his son. I begin to wonder what it would be like to give up the bind of Instagram and emails that tie me up in my job! (if only!) But he does make it all sound so easy.

Jeremie has a little plot of land in Essex that he takes all his waste to. It only takes 12 months to break it all down. It’s called Humanure. There are loads of nutrients being wasted when you flush the toilet - a secret the fertiliser companies maybe don’t want us to know! Although, I think Jeremie is the only person I know practicing this, I’m not sure how I’d feel at my kids’ birthday party in the garden when people ask me what the smell is. It’s just another stigma we’ve become used to. That waste is embarassing. The toilet separates the solid and liquid, so the solid turns to dust and all the nutrients end up back in the soil. It just takes him a trip up there every 4 weeks and while he’s there, he picks up the water he’s collected.

“The amazing thing with lanterns and candles is that your brain just switches off. ”

“You shed a lot of people when you choose a lifestyle like this but you have more time for the important things. ”

“People say, I have 4 restaurants, I could be living a very different lifestyle. But it’s not because you can, that you should.””

Jeremy takes me up to Jolene, his newest restaurant. I haven’t eaten there yet. It looks as lovely as his other two. No surprises there. Simple, good food. I’ve skipped lunch to chat with him, so I’m wishing I could sit down and order about 5 things from the menu! Chef and co-owner David Gingell is a genius.

““Restaurants can be such a wasteful environment. Every time I visited a small wine maker or farmer, the way they work in a low impact way and trying to regenerate the soil. There was a big chasm between what they were doing and what we were doing as a business. These people are incredible, they live in complete harmony.”

David and other friends are waiting for Jeremie when we arrive for a meeting. So here I must leave you to scooter back to my 4 bed house and dream of being able to afford solar panels, wondering how on earth I would make 3 packed lunches in a truck kitchen, not flushing our wee, where I can fit (hide) my new humanure patch (?!) and planning my raised beds to start growing my own vegetables.. quite a lot to think about..