The summer was hot but we loved living on the land with our great big tent lounge, we had sky TV and our 42" TV. Sleeping in the van at night with the van windows wide open kept us cool, when all around people moaned about the heat! All our friends thought us mad (whats new?) and would beep horns as they went past the road at the bottom!
My magic tree as I called it!
Who else would have sky and a 42" telly in a tent?
In September my good friend Cathy booked an amazing villa in Altea and invited us to go and stay with her. Real bedroom with en-suite bathroom, swimming pool etc do you think we hesitated at all!
The Orange House then become empty as it was the start of the new season so we took a room whilst we worked on getting it ready.
A few weeks into September and we had a frantic phone call from Danny a friend who passed the land on his way home to say " your bloody tents blowing around, come quick!" SHIT!
It was a complete mess, the weight of the rain had ripped every seem apart, we think the sun must have destroyed the stitching. Poor tent :0(
While the tent was still up one hot August day I decided to search on line for a beach front flat (like you do!). It took me to a website with a little picture of a house which we knew! We could not believe that it was prime climbing land in Sella. Tony Pearson a good friend was over at the time and we all decided to try and buy it. That would give us a home of sorts until we could get this one built!
At the same time I started to search for an architect and during a google session I found this great Spanish website - http://www.casasdepaja.org/
I sent them a message asking if they could recommend anyone that could liase with the Townhall and get my plans passed. I had an email within a few days from a lovely young girl called Irene from a little further south and we started to chat about my plans. This is a house that she has designed and had built -
This house is also built with Straw Bales!
January 2013 and we get the keys for the old farmhouse in Sella and move in there. Really, really busy season at The Orange House so nothing happens on the land, in fact we don't even visit. We pass it each day however and both say "god I can't wait till we live up there". Driving up to the other house which takes 45 mins each trip is a pain in the arse.
I downloaded a free piece of software for my ipad and started to have a think about what we wanted to build, (did you all notice the royal "we" been used, poor Rich). We had however spent some of last year in a bungalow near the village and both loved living on one level, so that was an easy decision. NO STAIRS!
We had cleared a small plot to place the tent on so that really helped to decide the size of the house. As we had dug away from the terrace above I had the idea to build the house towards the front which would allow me to have a very private courtyard garden at the back of the house. This is something I have always wanted and in my head I can already see that finished with massive green plants, running water etc a real moroccan feel.
I can see this in my head already only slighty smaller of course! lol
I sent my designs to Irene and left it to her to get it to a state that the School Of Arquitects in Alicante would approve and then allow her to send into the townhall. At the end of May as she promised and with plans signed off in Alicante we had a quick 15 minute visit to the townhall in Orcheta and that was it! We have been told the plans are approved and they have sent us a letter with the tax we have to pay and thats it! YIPPEE!!!!!
Here are the plans which show the layout, the corner will be 3 long thin windows, ceiling to seat height. The view will be Puig Campana! The actual doors will be double both at the front and into the courtyard. In the future this bedroom will go and we will have a larger lounge and we will build a bedroom and massive en-suite one level down, but thats a long way off!
We will have a walk in wardrobe which I have always wanted and a larder! how exciting!
Now we are on the look out for bales as we have been told this is the time to buy them. We visited the land today to take a look at where we will store them when they arrive.
This is all getting very real now and can't wait to get started, just need to get the summer out of the way and then no stopping us.........
