Why would anyone abandon a tropical island, a place where they’ve enjoyed happiness and an idyllic lifestyle, in favor of chilly mountain slopes?

John Newson and his wife Caroline Biebuyck, journalists and publishers originally from the United Kingdom, must explain to puzzled friends why they’re relocating to a tiny village near Bovec, Slovenia. The move takes them far from Lamma Island, their Asian home since the mid 1990s.

“One needs a change every so often,” said John, relaxing on a covered veranda outside the couple’s Lamma home near a scenic hillside and caressed by ocean breezes. “We’re moving to a different kind of exotic, but we leave with more than a few regrets. Lamma’s the most relaxing and interesting place I’ve ever lived.”

A 35-minute ferry ride from Hong Kong’s Central business district, Lamma has only a few thousand residents, plenty of trees, no motor vehicles, cleaner air and a more leisurely pace than the nearby big city. It’s a paradise for pets like John and Caroline’s beloved dogs, Lucky and Hebe.

“You can’t beat the laid-back atmosphere, the remoteness from people and the proximity to nature in a part of the world where such privileges are rare,” said John, a man known on Lamma for seldom wearing shoes or a shirt. “Maybe I’ll never go barefoot again, which is appalling!”

Caroline moved to Lamma in 1993. Two years later, John arrived. They married in 1999.

Although Lamma people come and go, the long-term residents move away only reluctantly, and many return. How could a snowy mountain village in Eastern Europe gain the upper hand?

“As the jungle claims our garden on Lamma, we’ll start hacking back the forest there,” John said, pledging to become more active in “the processes of life”. He envisions chopping wood, growing vegetables, hiking lofty trails, wielding a chainsaw and driving a tractor.

John and Caroline roamed “hemisphere to hemisphere”, from Tasmania and Thailand to elsewhere in Europe, seeking somewhere superior to Lamma. “The place we chose seems to offer exactly what we wanted – an Arcadian retreat where tradition and the 21st century co-exist,” John said. “The housing will be more comfortable. In summer and winter, the alpine scenery will be dramatic, and the way of life should be sufficiently different to keep things interesting for a good many years to come.”

Slovenia’s two million people share a territory slightly larger than Wales. Bovec, near the Italian border, has about 1,600 residents, plus grocery stores, several restaurants, hotels and guest houses. The area offers rafting, skiing and mountain-biking.

Five kilometres from Bovec, John and Caroline’s new village, home to a few hundred people, is smaller than Pak Kok, where they lived on Lamma. Caroline will continue as a writer and publisher while John builds and manages some apartment units for tourists.

Lucky and Hebe have always lived on a tropical island. “It’ll be a shock for the dogs,” John said. They’ll meet new wildlife, like bears, wolves, deer, wild goats, lynx, badgers, foxes, hares, squirrels and otters.

Slovenia’s people may be reasonably warm and welcoming, but not the climate. “Long johns are the answer,” said John, the long-time Lamma Islander.

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Slovenia's rugged beauty defies easy description.
(Photo by John Newson)


Wearing a cold-weather hat,
John practises keeping his ears cosy.


John and Caroline's Lamma home
(foreground) keeps the big city at bay.


No one on Lamma gardened
more diligently than John.

Constantly cultivating, John keeps
his Lamma garden growing.


As leader of the pack, John briefs
Hebe and Lucky on the big more.

Looking ahead, John visits Slovenia on the Internet.

Lucky the dog may need to
abandon football for skiing.

Caroline strolls in a Slovenian snowfall.
(Photo by John Newson)

Gently descending snow holds a special magic.
(Photo by John Newson)

Unchopped wood awaits John's arrival in Slovenia.
(Photo by John Newson)