Well after almost exactly 6 months and after viewing around 40 properties we have finally moved into our new home. As if to welcome us northerners the Andalucian area along with most of España is experiencing a colder winter with masses of snow! So our panaramic view is of several mountain ranges all covered in snow….almost Alpine in nature, and whilst this is beautiful it is very cold.
We have moved into a wonderful cave that actually belonged to one of our estate agents and offers us everything we could possibly need – except maybe central heating for these couple of cold months, no only joking! Although i have had to get used to the concept of setting our fires in the log burners – haven’t required fires so far in Spain!
Now that we have a permanent home we can finally get around to unpacking as we have in fact been living out of suitcases and only unpacking what we required there and then. We had not realised how many pictures we had brought, but thankfully this cave has several flat surfaces to hang them – unlike many of the caves we viewed! The pictures really make this cave feel like ours and like a proper home. we had ordered several pieces of furniture from IKEA in Murcia but unfortunately we are so isolated that they would not deliver. Step in Tony Legg a friend from Huescar who does removals. He moved us from Los Olivos to hear and then I went to IKEA with him to pick up our order…..through some wonderful winter landscapes (see below)
We now have setees, dinning chairs, kitchen cupboards and a couple of comfy armchairs – both humans and dogs are very happy. we have decided that other furniture will be acquired as we go on.
There are several issues that need addressing to our property before we really settle down, these are: –
- Address the low walls issue
- Plant the fruit trees before March
- Prepare the land for vegetables
- Build shelving for books
- Build an outside kitchen and seating area.
Of these the most urgent are to get the walls raised and gates installed as there is really no barrier to the two dogs escaping into the farm land! For this we have used a lad called Darren who was introduced to us by Brian. His firm Top Build has been working in this area for around 20 years and he has done a great job in installing wooden poles to raise the height of the walls without obscuring the spectacular views. He and his team have done a great job.
In the period between the snow and the rain I have cleared the land in front of the cave’s walls ready to dig over and plant with fruit trees and vegetables. I was hoping to have the trees in by the end of February, however the weather had other ideas….it has rained for nearly a week and this is proper English rain! However this is good for the region which has had a very dry 2017, and will mean that March is not too late to plant them. This property is not suitable for pigs and so I am hatching a plan with another guy to raise these elsewhere and still benefit from good fresh pork – this may need to wait until next year though.
Had a lovely visit from Suzi’s sister Gill at the end of the month, she did not see the area in its best due to the rain but is back with her Hubby in July so should get a better idea then.
So that was February 2018 in a nut shell. March should be busy!
