The Big Return

Well I certainly didn't think I would be writing on here again! What a shock to be back in residence after our mistake move to Bulgaria. We came back in September but its been full on since then and I have not had any time to just sit and think and write. 4 months later and I can fill in the gaps.

We rented the house out twice whilst gone and very nearly sold it! Rich never wanted that to happen and I can see why now we are back. I guess the saying "you don't know what you have until its gone" is very true!

First tenants came up here with loads of dogs and rescued some donkies, they loved the house but the living off grid and the crap track got to them so they moved out. Second tenant was a single women, no car and no money so you can see where I am going with that one! She moved out leaving a bit of a mess and lots of rubbish for us to remove. We then did a stint on airbnb and that went really well and we rented it quite a bit and people did love the remoteness and the views of course.

Horses back on the mountain!

12 months ago though we decided that we would not rent anymore and that Rich would use it as a base when he was here working, which became more and more. We think was one of the nails in the coffin for him and Bulgaria lost his shine as he wanted to be here most of the time. So after 3 years full time in BG we made the decision to come back, sold one of the 3 houses and did the big drive back. We had 2 horses with us and 9 dogs, an interesting journey you could say.

So what did we find after a whole summer away! ARGHHHH, BIG LESSONS learnt re the solar batteries!!! COVER AND DISCONNECT! Out of sight out of mind! We certainly didn't give the system up here another thought and as Spain cooked with very hot temps so did our batteries so when we returned we found dry cells! We filled them up anyway and lucky they did work in a fashion!

Old batteries

We had bought the system second hand and when we had cloudy days in a row we had to run the generator and never used anything like a kettle or washing machine, any item that normal people used. It was one of the things we did love about Bulgaria, buying all the items we could that used electricity. What a treat!!! lol

We knew that to update the system would cost us money we didn't have. Spending time in Bulgaria and running a dog rescue with a charity shop and many, many dogs in foster homes had taken up way too much of my time (and my soul) and the business really did suffer! The idea of spending time on the laptop promoting The Orange House went out of the window very fast! Another reason to leave and come back and find my focus. That and meeting the worst expats I have ever come across meant Spain was the right move.

We muddled on for a few months and Rich moaned like hell each morning when his coffee machine tripped the fuse and all power went! Time to have a look around and I found a nice group on facebook called Living off-grid in spain, I asked if anyone could recommend someone to give us a price for some new batteries. Lucky for us they said contact Paul from Solar Batteries in Spain.

Paul answered really quickly and gave us an amazing price, less than 1000 euros and said that within reason we would be able to use more electrical items. Oh to be able to use a washing machine even on a cold wash would be awesome. If one day we could ever have a microwave to heat up my milk in a morning would be double awesome!

look how smart these things are! Ex forklift truck batteries!

Christmas came and went and I contacted Paul and said how quick can you come, I think he could feel my pain so he said he would come on a Sunday. I warned him we had loads of dogs, to which he answered he liked dogs more than people, I knew we would get on!

So old ones out and new ones in, don't they look lovely. Now the test is to use things, I went down to The Orange House and brought up a small microwave. GUESS WHAT? its working. We can now plumb in the washing machine and Rich should always be able to have his coffee from his machine in the morning. So very happy and added bonus Paul fell in love with Penny one of the rescues we brought from BG and she left with him, I knew she would have the most perfect home and from the updates I am getting I was right.

So what are the future plans for this place? Its great to have a small space to keep clean but its a tad too small we have decided. After talking about extending sideways towards the mountain a great mate Rachel came to stay and we chatted about other places we could build out! After a quick walk around we worked out that we could use the wasted space in the courtyard that we never use. The wall is always moving on its own when we have heavy rain that it makes sense to build a large retaining wall and extend backwards.

That will become the bedroom! Trust me...

That space will then become the bedroom and I want some glass in the ceiling so we can lay in bed and watch the stars. It will have a window down the corridor to the front and then I want double doors out onto the remaining courtyard with the Yucca, with a shade over that in the summer if really should make a fantastic cool room. You will access the new room from the wardrobe/office/ and will make the house hopefully the great size for a couple.

That then means that we can extend the lounge into the bedroom and take down the pallet wood wall, bigger space all round. Much easier when we have guests and more dogs than is normal.

We have also bought a second hand giant glass door, being here in the winter and I can see that I want more sun inside the house so the wooden doors at the front will be pulled back and used as shutters and the new glass will allow light to flood inside.

We also are about to order the hessian bags and get them filled with top soil and get the living roof started! No idea how that will go and how long it will take to grow but will at least stop the sound of the naughty cats running around in the sand up there and risking the epdm getting holes in!

Loads more ideas and build plans but that's enough in one blog post.

If anyone wants to follow the dog rescue which will be on a very small scale, check out Tufas Trust on this link.

Hmmm is it finally finished?

Maybe this will be one of the last posts for this little house!

For people that know me you will not be surprised to learn that before this one is even finished, I am jumping to a new project and its not even close! In fact its around 3,000 km away in Bulgaria.

I am starting a new blog if anyone is interested in following that madness too....

thebulgariangoodlife.blospot,com

OK, so what have we managed to get done here before we run away?

Roof

We had had great plans about been super eco on the roof and wanted to use a wood fibre insulation and EPDM, then soil and plants! This had been suggested by Irene but when John our neighbour was building his house at the bottom of the hill they used horrible white polystyrene. The wood fibre was very expensive and only to be found up in Northern Spain, so with the costs high and the transport high, when John had lots left over it would have been a daft idea to spend money on the wood!

Super Simon came over again a few weeks ago with Clare to help with this final job! His idea was to use the white stuff and then use ferrocement on top.  However, when the boys went out to buy the materials the costs of the chicken wire made it a daft decision. So, back to plan A which was the EPDM rubber waterproof membrane ontop of the insulation and then as they had already bought sand we could use that to cover the rubber and eventually we hope to get plants that grow on the beach to take route!

Sand on roof we just need round pebbles in the gutter!

As you might remember the roof had a temp cover which was cheap plastic and then loads of gravel dumped on-top to keep the sun off and keep the plastic on! Now that is all around the outside of the house which looks really lovely and made a great difference to the "finished" look!

Can you see new steps in the distance, access to the top terrace! 

Can you see in the photo above a change of border around the outside, we did have tyres but after we had a visit to say we could not use them we got rid and used the old beams that had come from Tony house in Sella! Much nicer I think and does a great job of holding the gravel in place.

Inside has seen a few changes as I painted the concrete floor! I should really have done this year ages, it has made the house so much easier to clean and the dust has really been cut down! One day when we have more more time and money we will find some nice tiles and redo it all!

I also varnished the old tiles in the doorway and stained the wood darker.

Little pig showing off the new green floor! 

I also re painted the internal plaster wall and the first mud wall a faint hint of yellow. I think it makes a massive diffence and the colour really makes the room lighter! I have the kitchen area to have a go at when we come back at the end of the summer.

Plastered wall, slightly less clutter! 

So amazed how different it looks when painted!

So for now thats it! The house is closed up, all animals gone, piggies, chickens, ducks, cats all found great new homes. 2 Horses already in Bulgaria and 2 waiting to leave with us at the weekend.

The next update will be at the end of this year when we have a massive push so that the house can then be turned into a holiday rental place, so if you want to come and spend a few nights up here next year when it really is finished watch this space!

Just one last photo for now of the first thing we ever did!

Day one nearly 4 years ago! 

New Year New Business!

People might think that I have not posted anything since November as we have finish the house! Oh dear wouldn't that be amazing!

Sadly no, the house remains the same inside. We have however made some new steps up to the water level and started the dry stone wall around the bottom of the house with some great chunks of limestone. Craig Naylor our "super long term" Orange has done a great job so far and we can't wait to get that bit done!

One change we have to make is not our own decision! The Spanish have forest wardens, they are here to look after the land etc. They remind people not to wild camp or start fires which is a good thing. However, they came and visited us in September and said we had to stop using old tyres on the land.

Why we said and they just said NO! that they are a waste product which is not allowed to be used on the land as they leach out chemicals! To this we explained that we will be covering and hiding most of them in the future. Answer to that - we will give you 2 months to REMOVE them all. Hmmm we did remove all the ones at the front of the house as they really are noticeable from the road and 4 months later they have not been back. Sort of hoping we have got away with that one and that they will turn the other way and let us hide the rest!

Under bedroom window!

Around the front of the house!

So what have we been doing then for the past 3 months? One word - HORSES. It seems like we have dedicated 100% of our time to them and not the house. Every week we have a plan of attack to do house improvements and nothing seems to happen!

We had a call from a friend of a friend who was moving back to the UK and had the most lovely wooden fencing system which is hard and expensive to buy out here in Spain! We agreed a great deal with her and set about driving up the coast a few times and dismantling everything that she had in place. Wooden posts and a rather large metal shed! Now this was on the ground like a giant jigsaw, hmm that will be fun to sort out!

With the fencing we have managed to completely surround the whole hillside to allow the ponies to walk around! We installed a new water system on the top for the new arrival Lottie the Shetland as she could not reach the normal as, she is way too diddy!

Rich built some amazing gates, both massive metals one for car access and some funky little wooden ones to allow people access!

Metal shed was not too bad to put together in the end and we are not allowed to call it a shed says Rich, as it has hay in it, so we call it a "barn"! Bless Richard

Life now alot easier to feed the horses and a great area to tack up before a ride with clients.

People gate

Super arena all fenced

Side of the barn and Rich clever posts

Lovely views don't you think?

Last bit of news about the horse is the website that I have been very busy making over the past few weeks! Not quite finished but enough for now!

Darkest week so far!!!!

I last posted in August after a lazy summer and I imagined the next post would be all the goods things that have been achieved and how nice it is to be back to normal temperatures and best of all more workers to help us get a tad closer to finishing!

I will start with the positives and some photos of some lovely bits that are getting very close to the final push!

Bedroom - well what a bloody horrible job to get the floor smooth and finished! Rich started the process first and after really a few seconds the room was full of cement dust and impossible to see anything at all! Simon had brought over a small diamond cutter to fit onto a small and normal grinder so we knew its was going to be a long job but not as bad as it got!

One week looking like this! 

Rich had a go a few times having a sand for maybe 15 mins and then having to leave the room, I had an idea of using a spray bottle at the same time to keep the dust down. that helped a little but not enough! Rich got pissed off and said he had had enough. I don't blame him bless, but that did mean that I would have to take over!

I started the same way and after half an hour realised it was impossible, I am not sure if Simon said to use water or not, and I did not look on you tube like I normally do so have no idea what happened next but I just opened the spray bottle and chucked the whole of the water in the floor, fired up the sander and went for it!

Phew!!!!! it worked like a dream, no dust and amazing smooth finish. Rich entered the room a few hours later and got all excited and started to help me. He wet in the areas I was heading and between us we managed to finish the room in 2 days!

Then I started the slow process of painting 7 coats of linseed oil onto it! I was amazed how water proof the floor became very quickly. Also when you read on, you will see how it really did work when water came pooring in the window a few months later.

Nice shining floor, grit sanded down looks ok! I even took a photo of a dog hair for you! 

Love finished bedroom! Like a little place to hide in!

Pallet wood treated with linseed!

To give the room its final finish we painted both walls in a lovely pale purple and we treated all the wood again with linseed. I do love my bedroom window so much and all the wood used the room was free as all found in the bins. The mud walls are painted white with talc that smells lovely and flour, yes normal plain flour, makes a great cover for all the little cracks!

I painted some old mis matched furniture in the purple as a wash and used wax afterwards for a shabby chic look. TB mounted on the wall and new rug down and it really is a finished room and at the moment my very favorite place to be!

Cheap furniture painted and waxed! 

Afternoon sun comes through the stained glass window and is very special!

Bathroom - Rich really did a great job using old pallet wood on the walls and he made a really lovely mirror frame! I about finished with the tiling and have just about finished the grouting! White gloss on the beams in here to allow more light to bounce around as it is a dark room! Only the pipes to box in and a few more tiles on the bath and in here will be all done! Room number 2!

Rich making skirting boards from pallet wood!

Cheap pretend limestone tiles and Rich pallet wall painted with watered down white paint and then waxed!

Rich made me a super nice wooden frame for a piece of glass I pinched from a skip!

White ceiling to bounce the light down as its dark room! Shelf to put stuff on when taking a shower!

Hiding the caravans well underway using pallet wood! Rich office and my office will very soon be invisible from the road and we will look less like a gypsy campsite. The large van very soon will be moved down on the arena and hidden from view.

Rich caravan with its coat to make it invisible from the road! it really works just my little one to do the same and then move the large one down below! 

We had a great team of workers who had a massive push of mud making and managed to get the 2 end walls covered! Just the back courtyard now and then try to source some lime to add to the final coat to make it water proof!

Workers back! yippee! Craig and Harry same as last year.....

Sad thing number one was saying goodbye to Irene and Jose the 2 wonderful architects, without these two we would never have started this project and we will miss them! What I didn't realise was, that to have us as an open project for this length of time looked bad for them! It had not even entered my head that it is a full TWO years since we employed them and we drew out the white lines for the house.

If anyone had said it would still be so unfinished after a whole 2 years I really would have got angry and said "no way". I think we would have found another solution maybe and not been so eco. However doing it this way means that we do have an amazing house build with so much love and laughter and that I suppose is worth wait!

STORM DAMAGE!

September, just at the start of the month we had the normal what they call Gota Fria, big heavy rains in one small space of time on dry, dry land! So we have floods etc. This year was bad as we had a months rainfall in 2 days! We didn't suffer too much really and as a surprise to us both the roof did not leak too bad! A few rock falls near the horse area but nothing too bad.

wet wet and more wet!

Normal car park! so lucky I moved em!

Another lucky break as this is where the horses stand! 

So you can imagine then at the end of October we really didn't expect it all to happen again! It was forcast to start on the Thursday night at 11pm and it really did. I was stupid and ordered way too much hay which we tried to cover as best we could! I had a few buckets out to catch the water so I thought I was ready!

What a bloody night, I think I read that we had 2 months rainfall in 3 hours and we really did suffer this time. No idea why but we put the cars in a different place as we would have lost one I think to the stone wall which came down!

Horses lucky not to get hurt as the wall above them went for a slide down the hill! The worst area was in the courtyard as the clay wall decided it was the right time to give up and fall into the area right next to the back door, Falling on all the plants and making a right mess at the back door. Dogs running in and out with muddy feet like you would not believe! Poor little pig needed rescuing as the mud turned to clay and she could not walk!

Little pig standing next to the floor that is falling away from the hillside, can you just see a crack! 

Terrace gone under the solar panels which took out the wall below and moved water containers and buried the cables to solar system! So all this mud and mess and no power from system. Fixed a week later and we think it was a lightening strike that damaged something!

Well I think that's it and surely that's enough! I am not going to mention the damage down at The Orange House and leaks and unhappy clients and staff but I can say that last week was the worst to-date by a mile and one I really don't want to repeat!

I will end with a happy photo though as I do love this house so much and things can only get better!? Yeh?

EXACTLY TWO YEARS AGO TODAY!!!!!!!!!

Summer of doing diddly squat! nada! nothing!

When I read back to the last post in March I am a little sad that not much has changed since then! I had such great plans to do lots of inside jobs during the summer months when The Orange House was closed to climbers and I would spend all my time up here! Oh how wrong was I?

We did manage to put up some shelves to display books and things over the top of the old army maps we had been given. Using more pallets and wine cases, you can't see in the photos but the wood has writing on and is all different colours! No one really likes my handmade puppets but me! lol

Pallet shelves

May saw Rich and I drive back to the UK for our annual visit, never a dull trip back anyways, but his time we took the horse box to bring back a new pony to add to the herd! So that was May with nothing done!

New boy Dooley

June came and went with a flying visit from Simon our wood guru and he was able to help a little bit and we have a nice new wooden seat for the bucket toilet.

We also managed to get some sheet metal FOC of course and we already had a shower tray from The Orange House so an outdoor shower was fashioned! Rich does like to shower in his garden, and after a bit of digging, a trench will take the water around the front of the house and will water the mound at the front to try and get plants to grow and stabilize the soil!

Trench for water to slope!

 

Outdoor shower!

Posh bucket hider!

June also saw our wedding anniversary party and Rich birthday, so another month that we did very little! The only job we did manage to do, was to plant some lovely trees and shrubs that people bought us for our wedding anniversary gifts. The tyres around the front of the house will be covered in mud and painted to match the house!

The happy couple after 11 years!

OK, so lets get busy in July before we head on holiday to Bulgaria! What a stupid idea, way too hot to even work inside so we end up hibernating. I had said last year that I did not want to spend another summer here in Spain, but until the heat hits you again you forget just how horrible it can be.

The trip to Bulgaria was great and we did buy a small house with a large garden with a stream running through the bottom! I can see another blog starting to follow the madness over there!

We have been back a month and still very little done! We have just taken the bed out of the bedroom so that we can start to try and polish the floor and finish the painting, staining in there! Rich has also started to clad the walls in the bathroom with more pallet timber so that maybe we can get 2 rooms finished!

Bed in the lounge, like a cozy bedsit! 

Empty bedroom ready to start the floor!