On Friday, we went to Spain and signed for a house that we've been trying to buy since last July. Hurrah! It's just perfect for us and the dogs. The house is completely off-grid, and rather a shell at the moment. It has no door, no windows, no electricity, no water, no sewage. No problem We spent the weekend there doing some tidying, camping inside. Well, the dogs were in heaven. Friday afternoon, they didn't stop running around. There is over 7 hectares for them to romp in, with an acre enclosed around the house (albeit, there are gaps where there should be gates at the moment...). It's pure doggy heaven. It all proved a little too much for Willow, who was completely over threshold for most of the afternoon. We eventually put her to bed at about 8:30pm, but she was acting just like an over-tired puppy, not doing anything we asked and being what I can only describe as "testy". She would zonk out for a couple of minutes, but then the fact she was somewhere new and different would wake her again, and we'd need to try to settle her down again on her vet bed. To be fair to her, there were birds flying in and out of the house through the missing windows On the Saturday, we had the whole day to do some clearing of the land immediately adjacent to the house. This is very important because it's really overgrown with long grass; prime tick country. I prayed that the Bravecto would be effective, but I still pulled a few live ticks off them both, before they had attached. Ick. For ourselves, we had forgotten any bug repellant so, in carrying big bundles of grass around, I got eaten alive. When I got home, I counted four bites on my face, sixteen around my neck and countless more on my arms. I had long trousers on, so only a couple of nasties got through to my ankles. Note to self: take 100% deet with me next weekend! On the Saturday and Sunday, the dogs were less hyper. They were quite clingy and followed me everywhere, which meant up and down the same path repeatedly, as I hacked away at the trees and dragged the branches to a pile outside the wall. They really enjoyed “helping”, pulling a massive honeysuckle apart bit-by-bit, and dragging branches off of the pile as quickly as I put them on. By Sunday afternoon, they had relaxed enough to lay down in the sun or shade and watch us work. I made sure we had plenty of doggy time, too, playing hunt and chase. The temperature wasn't too hot at mid 20s, plus there was a bit of cloud cover and a lovely breeze to keep things cooler for us all. We met our neighbour, who lives about a kilometre away. He has a dog who is some kind of pointer, either a GSP or a Danish pointer, I think. She's super friendly and keeps charging over to our land to have zoomies with W&S. They'll oblige, but will also recall away from her very well, which is great. We also found out that she can break into locked cool boxes and steal sausages, cheese and ham when we're not around... I'm still in a bit of a haze of "what have we done?!" but am really excited to get the place up together so we can enjoy more time there over the summer. Once we're back from our agility holiday, we're going to get the solar in, which means we'll be able to get internet sorted out and then we'll be able to spend more time down there. For the moment, I have to work during the week, so it's a case of going down for weekends only. We drove back yesterday, getting home about 7pm. The dogs fell asleep immediately, so we said we’d take them out for a toilet stop before bed. There was no chance - they weren’t interested in the slightest. Even this morning, they were less than enthusiastic about waking up and going for our morning stroll. They’re so used to sleeping for the majority of the day, it was obviously all a bit of a culture shock for them. Apologies, LOTS of photos follow! The back of the house and a bit of the land. Everything you can see (bar the mountains!) belongs to the property. From where the camera is, the land extends about 75m behind, though some pine woods. There is about twice what you can see in the photo again, extending to the left. It's hard to see from the angle, but most of the land is fairly flat, mainly on that lower level, below the house. The original boarding kennels, set away from the house. We're hoping to convert these into gym/workshop and some guest accommodation. There is planning permission for the same size block again, intended as a cattery, so we're going to see if we can get a change of use for this, although it's not something we're too worried about in the short term. Alternatively, we may have to run it as a boarding kennels, in which case, it will be the poshest kennels in the land Land continuing on past the kennel block. The field on the far right is the extent of our property (and where I hope to make my main training area). Another view of the kennel block. This enclosure in front has more recently been used to house a couple of piglets that we were surprised to see on one of our visits! If we eventually put guest rooms in here, we may put a small pool in this area, especially if we ever decide to rent the rooms. Side view of the house. No windows Front of the house, including a couple of tiny kennels. They must have had chihuahuas! No windows. No door. But someone has kindly left a bottle of unidentifiable booze. The land is very overgrown, and the trees (olive and almonds) are unproductive. The fence you can see goes around the house. Closer to the house it is a prettier white-washed wall with terracotta tile top (albeit, this needs some work doing on it), and farther from the house, it's this rather ugly fence. It is useful, though, as it gives an acre of land that is completely enclosed around the house, meaning we know that, if the dogs are wandering, they're still safe and can't go far. I've not really included any pictures of the interior, because it's - er - "unfinished". It comes with existing tenants. Yes, this is inside. Willow approves of the view from the bedrooms, though: Another view of the house: The area is lovely. Even on a dull day, the local scenery is beautiful. Here is the local, and very famous, River Ebro. I can't wait to do some kayaking along it. This is the field I am most excited about, I think! It is very fertile, so I can grow all sorts of things here, but I think it would make an amazing agility area Some more of the land, to the left of the house. The olive trees look good, but there is nary an olive on them! Some very sad-looking almond trees. To be fair, even very productive almond trees can look pretty sad. However, these are sad and unproductive! Let's do a compare-and-contrast. This is the boundary of our land. On the left is the neighbouring farm, with irrigated almonds. On the right, our neglected almonds:
All the above were taken before we signed for the place. Here are a couple from this weekend. A spot of bubbly to celebrate our purchase: Settling in to camp indoors that first night. The dogs aren't too sure about it all. Saturday lunchtime and the patio area is a bit clearer: Shadow found a tiny - and very muddy - pond/trough under one of the bushes. He was very proud of his discovery. Willow is just as filthy, but hiding it well. It seems we have more pets than we thought. Welcome to Adam the Adder. He's a brave little soul. Not bothered by us in the slightest. "I like it here, Mum!" Going on a tour of the (very overgrown) estate, bubbles in hand, and sporting a dodgy suntan from my ski goggles and helmet combo The garden area below the house. I'll cover the ugly fence with pretty flowers and make this a relaxing area, with a pool at some point in the future. Trimming the olive trees and drowning in branches. Saturday night, we're all shattered. No dogs on the bed, right? Think John's going to have to take the vet bed... Boarding the place up to stop the birds nesting. And we have a door! A fugly door, maybe, but a door nonetheless! Johnny playing with his new toy. The garden bit up by the house. A bit neater from having a good strim. Still plenty of work to do, though. A fraction of the branches we chopped over the weekend. Willow considering which one should be moved next.
Oh my! How incredible exciting. And an awful lot of work! Have you considered getting some Germans in and building you one of their amazing flat pack structures in 10 days? I know it sounds just ridiculous, but it can be amazingly cost effective! Particularly for your 'guest' house. I watched a group of German builders put up the most amazing cabin - the kitchen and bathroom came in pre assembled modules - in 3 days..... I wanted to knock down an old Cornish farmhouse and replace it with German prefab....council said no. But that was very short sighed of them! It's the way to go, and much more environmentally friendly!
Yeah, nice idea, but the Catalans will most definitely say no. You're only allowed to build on the existing footprint, and only within very strict guidelines. They don't actually like people living in the countryside; a throwback to Franco's time in power. The structure isn't really a problem. It needs a good jet wash inside and out, and then fitting with everything. In the short term, this will be a functional bathroom, a makeshift kitchen and a few items of furniture. We'll then make it nice over the next couple of years. There's no rush
So awesome. A home renovation tread. With gardening. In the country((side)..(we don't say the 'side' bit, we just say 'the country')). Fabulous. Pruning back the almonds and irrigating might do the trick. We have a massive old almond tree but the parrots eat all the almonds.
Some of the almonds are definitely dead-o. But we're actually pleasantly surprised how many are showing some signs of life - maybe 60-70%. So, yes, we'll give them a massive trim as and when we have some spare time (heh). The plan is each evening to go for a walk around the land with the dogs and a saw and chop a couple back. It'll take time, but we'll get there
It looks great - a wonderful place for the dogs! What a project, though, with land and house to deal with...
Oh Fiona...you will have it beautiful and will I must admit to my hands shaking seeing the pictures of the interior......where you slept! Aargh! It will be a lot of work but will be so worth it x
What an enormous undertaking, you should write a book about it. I complain about having to do gardening (hate it) but it is tiny compared to yours! What a fantastic adventure, look forward to reading more. Just an aside re the adder, my dog was bitten by an adder and very poorly as a result. The vet might allow you to have some steroids just in case.
Yes, I'm rather cautious about the adders. I know that they're not fatal in the vast majority of cases, and once we've cleared the long grass, we won't be surprising them, which is the main cause of problems. As much as the house is in the middle of nowhere, it's actually only 10 minutes from the nearest vet, so we know that if anything happens, we'll be there with no delay. We have adders here in Andorra, too - as you do in the UK - so we know they very rarely actually bite. We're going to go and introduce ourselves to the local vets (there are two surgeries the same distance from us) and take on any local advice they may have. I enjoy gardening but don't get much opportunity to do it here. I find it a nice release from work. I have a big vegetable patch planned - I just need to get the area prepared. The garden area will be made to be as low-maintenance as possible, so lots of self-seeding flowers and alpines in the rockier areas. Once we've brought the almonds back to some semblance of health, we'll be handing the husbandry of that off to someone else, who will do all the work and take the profits. I have no desire to be a farmer! Although "Farmer Fi" does have a certain ring to it
Nope! The house has a cisterna below it, which is basically a basement that you flood with collected rainwater. We're not doing that - we're turning it into a wine cellar instead But, we'll still be collecting rainwater from the roof of the house and the kennel block, and storing that in tanks for irrigation of the garden. The farm is designated as "dry", meaning it's not irrigated. We may choose to change that in the future, depending on whether it's worth it or not. For our own personal water, we'll have it delivered. You can buy cubes of water of various qualities for drinking, bathing, washing etc.
