In 1915 Grandfather acquired the Fazenda (farm) as a debt and proceeded with great enthusiasm to develop the place. An electrical turbine and sawmill, new outbuildings, bridges and a distillery for making cachaca (a local brandy made from sugar cane) were built. The original Carmelite colonial house was refurbished (Sadly it is now an overgrown and derelict shell following a recent fire). Coffee for export was grown on the hills, sugar cane on the lowlands together with cassava and the staple black beans. A flock of sheep was introduced, and many fine trees from the forest felled for their timber, while the existing avenue of trees by the roadside was planted. The farm had its own chapel and cemetery, which exist today, and a large provisions store for everyone on the farm. In 1937, due to the collapse of international prices, the coffee plantations were abandoned a nd the planting of bananas on the hills began. A lot of these plantations are still there today. Meanwhile the lower hills were systematically deforested with firewood being much in demand. At this period hunting was a generally widespread activity and gradually resulted in the extermination of some species.
REGUA in 1987
Access to the Fazenda do Carmo was difficult. Originally reached by the narrow gauge railway which linked Rio de Janeiro to Novo Friburgo, stopping at Santana de Japuiba which was the nearest station, some 21 kilometres away from the farm. The trek from Japuiba to the farm by horse-drawn carriage was particularly difficult during the rainy season, while after 1945 I recall riding on the back of a black and red Dodge lorry which would meet us at the station and often get stuck in deep mud, on what was then a primitive road cut through forest, and is now the main 15 kilometre access, still a dirt road to the now thriving village of Guapi Acu, which then consisted of a few scattered houses. Movement on the farm, by now the largest in the state of Rio, was - by and large - on foot or on horseback.
Following the death of my grandfather in 1953, the farm was inherited by his three daughters who employed various administrators with equally variable results. Around that time a large area of land called Sebastiana was expropriated by the then federal government and divided up to provide smallholdings for workers and their families.
Upon the death, in 1978, of my aunt and godmother, the eldest of the three sisters, it was agreed to divide the entire farm into three parts, one going to my cousin, another to my brother John, and the third to me. I was to remain with the largest and least productive part, consisting mostly of forest, and a new bridge was built across the Rio dos Gatos to provide access to my land. My brother wanted to farm beef and developed his area by draining wetlands to create pasture and built the infrastructure at Sao Jose, including the lodge, which was to be his main residence. He also looked after my land, which became the Fazenda Serra do Mar, ‘ticking over’ by renting out the existing pasture and harvesting bananas, while respecting my views on preserving the forest and allowing reforestation to occur naturally on previously cleared lower hills and along existing river banks. My cousin, who had inherited the original house and its farm buildings, made few changes and oversaw slow decay.
REGUA today
In 1982, my eldest son, Nicholas, after studying agriculture at Merristwood college in England, went to live on the farm as an apprentice to my brother and also to manage my land under his guidance. Not long afterwards Nicholas met and married Raquel and together they built their first house, on the site where they now live. Sadly, in 1987, my brother died leaving Nicholas and Raquel with the task of looking after both farms, which, under very difficult circumstances, they did admirably. John’s widow relinquished her share upon the sale of some land, and a few years later my cousin sold most of his land to the beer company, Schincariol, who had researched, and were attracted to the ample availability of pure water in the area. They built a dam and reservoir in order to pipe water to a new state-of-the-art brewery 15 kilometres away. To a great extent the original heart of the Fazenda do Carmo was obliterated under the waters of this dam.
The seed of REGUA was planted in the early 1990s following a visit by Stephen Knapp, another Merristwood graduate and contemporary of my second son, Adrian. Stephen became incredibly enthusiastic about the natural beauty and richness of wildlife, particularly the variety of birds which he saw. With a lot of encouragement in the early days, especially from Sir Iain and Lady Prance and Toby Bromley, who had the great foresight to fund Stephen and Andy Foster for a three year research period at the farm, ideas began to take shape and develop into what REGUA is now.