Natalie grew up in the UK where she spent her childhood making mud pies and drawing. The two constants in her life have always been a deep fascination for nature and a love of art. She left school with good grades but no idea what to do next, so she returned to her passions and studied Natural History Illustration. Whilst looking for illustration work she fell sideways into an insurance job which was, in hindsight, not a good decision.

Her banking career lasted fifteen years and gave her financial security but left her feeling unfulfilled and utterly unhappy.  Natalie tried to stay creative by filling her free time with learning crafts and renovating her home.  One day online she randomly discovered mud building, and then permaculture. Her worldview was changed forever. 

Natalie has always been drawn to her Thai heritage and visited Thailand as often as she could. She fell in love with the land, the people and the self sufficient approach to life. She felt like she had come home. Now her eyes had been opened, she saw the possibility of a different way of living. Excited to re-discover her Thai roots she made a plan to free herself from the life she had built. Having never moved out of her hometown, Natalie saved up, sold everything and moved to Thailand in 2014. 

In 2015 Natalie attended a women’s natural building course with International Women for Peace and Justice (IWP) and Pun Pun Centre for self-reliance, where 23 women with no prior building experience built a house (except the roof) in 8 days! This became the foundation upon which Natalie built her new life in Thailand and remains the most empowering experience of her life so far. After the course Natalie was blessed to be able to continue to build with these amazing women and in September 2017 realised a life-long dream of building her own mud home. 

Natalie is a complete believer in lifelong learning. She completed her first Permaculture Design Certificate in 2013, and in 2020 completed Geoff Lawton’s online PDC. She is currently enrolled with the Global Ecovillage Network where she is developing an idea to generate income for vulnerable communities hit by COVID with a local NGO. Natalie is honoured to work with and learn from local communities in Chiang Mai and grow together by putting theory into practise. 

Contact Natalie at nslimwa (at) yahoo.co.uk for:

• Permaculture consultation and design services
• Building and project management services
• Camps, workshops and talks on permaculture, natural building, sustainable practise, art and practical skills. For children and adults
• Permaculture curriculum and outdoor learning stations for schools 
• Sustainability coaching
• Permaculture illustration

Want her to be your mentor?