Welcome To My Garden

Welcome to My Garden is a network of citizens offering free camping spots in their gardens to slow travellers. It is a not-for-profit initiative set up by a small team of volunteers, mostly outdoor enthusiasts and some indoor enthusiasts (i.e. developers).

The idea was born thanks to the coronavirus: if we’re not allowed to travel abroad, how can we create adventure closer to home? What if this summer could make you discover your own country in ways you’ve never done before?

This is the perfect time to discover what Belgium is all about: from Flanders to Wallonia, from Brugge to Brussels, from the coast to the Ardennes. Adventure begins at the end of the roads we know. So pack your bag and let Belgium surprise you this summer - and beyond!

So how does it work? Welcome to My Garden connects citizens who want to offer their garden to hikers and cyclists who need a basic camping spot for the night. After you’ve made arrangements with your host, walk or bike to your camping spot. Introduce yourself, pitch your tent for the night, and continue on your hiking or biking trail the next day. And have a great time, of course!

The source code of this project is available on GitHub. Any suggestions to make it better? Feel free to contribute! We are also looking for all kinds of people to join our team, so please drop us a line if you think you can help us out.

For now, Welcome to My Garden focuses on Belgium. However, we’re hoping it can travel beyond its borders. If you want to set it up in your own country, do get in touch! It would be awesome if we could make this a European or even global project.

We will use your donations to keep WTMG alive: WTMG is free to use, but not free to operate. You can look into our expenses on this page. Based on the actual expenses we've had in July & August 2020, this is what we’ll be spending your donations on:

Server related costs:

Domain name: €15 per year
Fastmail email accounts: €5,11 per month
Transactional emails: €76 per month
Firebase back-end service: €75 per month

Map related costs:

Our self-hosted tile server: $20 per month
Geocoding service Mapbox: free up to 100.000 requests

Total estimated technical cost: ~€175 per month

So that’s the price tag for an adventurous summer for all of us - and hopefully many summers to come! Thanks again for joining the ride! 🙏

Happy Camping!

For more information, please visit our website at welcometomygarden.org and our facebook page.

What's new with Welcome To My Garden

Stay up to dates with our latest activities and progress.

September update: we're here to stay!

Welcome To My Garden had its two-month birthday on the 24th of August and a lot has happened since it got thrown into the universe! So it’s time for an update.If you’re following...

Published on September 4, 2020 by Janneke K

Welcome To My Garden is finally live!

Last night Welcome To My Garden went live after weeks of hard work. We put a lot of love into building this new platform and we are so excited for you to discover it and start usi...

Published on June 25, 2020 by Janneke K

Budget

See how money openly circulates through Welcome To My Garden. All contributions and all expenses are published in our transparent public ledger. Learn who is donating, how much, where is that money going, submit expenses, get reimbursed and more!

Financial contribution to Welcome To My Garden

from Sébastien Colla • 10/19/2020

+€10.00EUR

Completed

Financial contribution to Welcome To My Garden (Donation)

from Joren De Groof • 9/12/2020

+€25.00EUR

Completed

Contribution to WTMG

from Natuurpunt • 9/7/2020

+€1,200.00EUR

Completed

Today’s balance

€2,419.24 EUR

Estimated annual budget

~ €10,147.67 EUR

Welcome To My Garden is all of us

Our contributors 48

Everyone who has supported Welcome To My Garden. Individuals and organizations that believe in –and take ownership of– our purpose.

Dries Van Ran...

Admin

Total contributions

€50 EUR

Janneke K

Admin

Total contributions

€50 EUR

Manon Brulard

Admin

Total contributions

€20 EUR

Nicolas Grande

Core Contributor

Michiel Leyman

Admin

Marie Devos

Core Contributor

Lien Arits

Core Contributor

I love WTMG because it promotes meeting with fellow Belgians and it lowers financial tresholds for travelling.

Brent Guffens

Core Contributor

Admin Welcome...

Admin

Vlaamse Gemee...

Financial Contributor

Total contributions

€7,890 EUR

Natuurpunt

Financial Contributor

Total contributions

€1,200 EUR

Open Collecti...

Financial Contributor

Total contributions

€272 EUR

Conversations

Let’s get the ball rolling! This is where things get planned and sometimes this is where things get done. Ask questions, thank people for their efforts, and contribute your skills to the service of the community.