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!