The village of Beigou sits in a valley in the shadow of the Great Wall of China. Chickens roam free, children play in the square and elderly villagers use the outdoor exercise machines. Many locals still make a living harvesting pear and apricot trees, and many still live in squat stone courtyard farmhouses with low-hanging eaves, designed to stay warm in the sub-zero winters and cool in the roasting summers. But hidden in the foliage up the winding hilly paths is a scattering of more opulent homes.
Beigou and neighbouring Mutianyu village are tourist hotspots known as gateways to the Great Wall (Mutianyu contains a cable car which scales the Wall and a toboggan slide back down). But for some expats and some of the wealthy Chinese they are becoming popular sites to buy high-end holiday homes. Just over an hour’s drive from Beijing, they offer a welcome getaway from the frenetic capital.
“The air is cleaner and a little bit cooler. I would go for a weekend and feel like I’d gone to Thailand,” says John Watkins, an American who has lived in China since 1982. Six years ago he and his wife, Dinah, renovated and built their own home, called Ironstone, in Beigou.