So, aside from all the council people and estate agents, there are three main people we have had to deal with: a lawyer, an architect and a builder. The first two we found locally (near Casa Azul that is) but for the builder we needed someone up where the new house was. So how on earth could we find a suitable person? How could we find someone who could turn an old granite house into a home we liked? Someone who was, ideally, recommended when we didn’t know anyone in the region?

The answer: casas de turismo rural. Portugal is becoming more and more popular and the countryside is full of lovely old places that have been renovated and turned into holiday lets. Browsing the websites that advertise such places was perfect: not only could we see lots of photos of the exterior and interior of the houses, but we knew we would probably be able to have a look around (rather than turning up at someone’s private home). So July 2020, after the first lockdown had been eased, we found ourselves driving north to see three properties we liked the look of. They were all old granite houses whose renovations appealed to us. We had been unable to contact any of the owners so we were just hoping someone would be there, bit of a long shot really.

So we arrived at the first place, Casa da Oliveirinha, and rang the bell on the outside of a tall wall. We had chosen this one because it had been built into the side of a hill, like our house has been. Sim? In our best Portuguese we started to explain why we were there. Wait, I’m coming down. The owner spoke excellent English and was delighted with our request. He was more than happy to show us around the visitors’ accommodation. We must have spent at least an hour chatting with him about the builder’s work and we took lots of photos. (It’s funny looking back at those as we are all wearing masks back then.) Anyway, he had had one builder who he kicked off the site as being ‘shoddy’ and got in a new builder and yes he would highly recommend him. So there and then he rang the builder, explained what we were looking for and arranged a meeting. That was a success, then. A builder to talk to.

We drove to the next place, Quinta Olivia, run by a couple of Dutch guys so no need to worry about the language. They were also there, in the middle of cleaning the rooms, but suggested we could swing by after lunch to their home and they could give us some advice. It turned out that they lived a short drive from our house, so that was good news too. We spent a long time with them and got lots more useful advice again. They had done a lot of the work themselves so didn’t have a builder who they could recommend as such but it was great meeting foreigners who had lived in the area for a long time.

We never had time to see the third place. But we chose the recommended builder and we also ended up using his lawyer too (don’t ask) so he was a great contact. As for the Dutch guys: we have become good friends. It’s because of them we are renting this house by the river, and tonight we are meeting up for supper.

One of the most tiring aspects of the whole business is the chasing up, the waiting for things to happen, the wondering if we had been forgotten, waiting in line yet again with a numbered ticket to see what the latest situation was. The builder was one of the few exceptions. He has never been late for a single meeting, he always responded in a timely manner to emails and has also chased people up for us. He is of course very expensive but finding a good builder in Portugal these days is very difficult. The only other issue really is that we find him very difficult to understand! We have had numerous meetings that have eventually worked out but always with an episode or two where neither of us understood a thing.

So when we still had a problem with getting the electricity connected it was with some disappointment he didn’t get back to our queries, and wasn’t in the office whenever we drove past (a handy 5 min drive away). For the first time he went AWOL. Then he sent us a text: he’d had a heart attack. You can’t make this up.

So where are we now? Well, we have a massive crane outside the house. It’s arrival, a few weeks ago now, was greeted with glee but without electricity is sitting there admiring the view on its own.

We have seen the builder a few times now and he is alive and well, thank goodness. He says he’ll contact the electricity company next week…

So while the bubbly is on hold at least Richard can find solace in a good beer. The Crovan Brewery has been busy, in the fridge there are bottles of Godred’s Party Ale, Auburn Stout and Onchan Blonde Ale. Rhumsaa Red Ale is to be bottled tomorrow. Cheers.