richard

A walk in the country

April 11, 2010 richard Comments 0 Comment

The builders have decided to take another break, so once again the only sounds from the site come from the birds. Unwisely, a pair of redstarts have taken the work hiatus as an opportunity to build a nest in the scaffolding. That won’t last long. As well as being busy on the garden (Jackie will no doubt post an update on that very soon) we have been exploring our neighbourhood, so here are a few photos of a recent walk taken in glorious spring sunshine. Thankfully there are no photos of my milky white legs which were revealed for the first time this year.

The only blot of our neighbourhood - the quarry

Electric

March 28, 2010 richard Comments 0 Comment

The two blokes on site have continued to work hard over the last few weeks and they have now been joined by the electrician/plumber. Together they’ve managed to do some more demolition work. This time inside the house, digging up the ground and chiselling away at the walls finding gaps to put the electric cabling in. Next up will be the plumbing. Although the house was lived in up until a few years ago there is hardly any electric cabling or water supply in the place so everything has been done from scratch.

Meanwhile Jackie’s veggies are sprouting everywhere, led by the spuds. Every day now she is replanting the youngsters from the kindergarten (the cloches and cold frames) into senior school (the raised beds). Also more and more trees are sprouting, including this one to the left of the pond (see photos below). It’s a fruit tree but we have no idea which. There are about 4 or 5 others we are not sure of either – can’t wait to see if they fruit.

There have also been plenty of birds around including some big predators – black kites, buzzards and harriers. Here I snapped a couple of marsh harriers – not over our land but over some marshland not too far from where we live.

Spring has sprung

March 11, 2010 richard Comments 2 comments

As predicted, with the roof completed, the weather remains fine and no rain forecast. In fact it has been glorious weather to do a bit of gardening. Jackie is now worried that it may be too hot for the spuds which are coming on great guns under the cloche. And most of the fruit trees have now burst into life with blossom all over the garden. Soon we may even be able to tell which fruit trees we actually have.

Despite threats from the builders that work would stop on the house for another break, my pleading seems to have done the trick and we still have two workers continuing on site. They have started on the rendering/plastering the walls inside and out.

We’ve also got the electrician/plumber starting soon. The forward slash is because it’s actually the same person. It seems strange to me but apparently it is the norm in Portugal. Anyway, he has been round the house with us and now knows where all the plug points, sockets, sinks etc will be. Hopefully he will be starting work very soon…

A roof over our heads (part 2)

March 3, 2010 richard Comments 2 comments

Finally, we’ve got the tiles on the roof! Now they are up I don’t expect any more rain for the rest of the year. I can’t understand why the builders didn’t put up them up earlier as they only took a day to do it in the end. Ah well, done now – so hopefully the inside can now dry out.

The extension is also taking shape. After finishing the walls to the study downstairs, the bricky is now working on the bathroom upstairs so that should be ready for the plumber soon.

Meanwhile the garden is blooming wonderful. The fruit trees have sprung into life with buds appearing everywhere. In fact, our first plum blossom is out (proof below) and the others are not far behind.

We’ve also built a small fence. It separates the veggie patch from the rest of the garden. Jackie reckons it will keep out the rabbits and javeli (wild boars) and keep in the sheep (we plan on getting some of these at some stage in the future). I’m not so sure but as we’ve planted vines and a redcurrant bush against it at least it should provide some fruit.

Return of the builders

February 23, 2010 richard Comments 0 Comment

…or rather the demolition team. After a frustrating three week ‘break’ the men arrived back on site sledgehammers at the ready. This time they were working on the lounge – bashing out big holes for the french windows. They must have a lot of trust in the strength of old Portuguese farmhouses as they didn’t bother with props (or any safety gear – at least helmets would have kept the rain off). After a couple of hours bashing, they took their customary break at 10am for a fag, a ham sandwich and a couple of beers. Then back into it.

As you can see from the pictures below (on the second day of bashing), the rain has come back with a vengeance (we’ve also had thunder and hailstorms), so round about the house is a bit of a quagmire. Inside is not much better as the roof tiles still haven’t been put on and water seems to be coming in everywhere.

“Nao problemo” say the boys, “Portuguese Farmhouse very strong”. I hope so.

Meanwhile they have cleared away the rubble from the front of the house so you can see the extension a bit clearer. Downstairs is where the study will go and upstairs the bathroom and utility room.

Transformations

February 14, 2010 richard Comments 0 Comment

The raised beds are finally finished – they just need green things to start sprouting from them. Here’s one photo we took not long after we arrived in September and another this week after putting some gravel down.

And here is the pergola, which is where the pig pen once was.

Still no sight of the builders. Hopefully they will be starting again next week…

Not happy bunnies

February 7, 2010 richard Comments 1 comment

The euphoria surrounding last week’s concrete pour on the roofs has quickly dissipated. After getting the roof done, the builder said that we had to leave it for four or five days to set. Fair enough. But now a week later he has told us he won’t be back for another week as he has to finish another job! So two weeks of inaction on the house has left us non plussed to say the least.

However, work continues on the garden and the raised beds are perfectly manicured, ready and waiting. In fact, Jackie has planted our first veggies. Jersey Royal potatoes specially flown in from Jersey (actually posted here from her sister). They should be ready in about three months. And the strawberries are also bedded in and raring to go.

Jackie has also been busy in the kitchen. We rediscovered a huge pile of walnuts the other day which we had picked in November and she made a delicious walnut cake. So delicious in fact that Furface, the local moggie who has adopted us, sneaked in and snaffled up half of it while we weren’t watching.

I’ve also been busy utilising my great strengths – brute force and ignorance. I’ve finally removed all trace of the former pigsty. In its place we’re going to build a little outdoor dining area with a trellis which will be dripping with vines. That (hopefully) will be going up next week, so look out for the pics.

Finally, a good sign that spring must be on its way is that a tiny wren is building a nest on our balcony. Here’s a pic of the wren and a blackcap who came for a butcher’s.

The bathroom goes…

January 18, 2010 richard Comments 0 Comment

After the roof, went the bathroom and whatever room was below it. Unfortunately however, it continues to rain, seemingly incessantly. This means that water is now getting into all the rooms. The builders aren’t worried, but considering that without the roof we can plainly see that the walls are simply made of rocks and mud (see photos below) and the ease with which the walls came down makes us nervous at best. The sooner the rain stops and/or the new roof goes on the better!

Meanwhile we continue to work on the garden and have been busy on the raised beds.

The cavalry arrive

January 13, 2010 richard Comments 2 comments

As promised, the builder and his men arrived on Monday 11th January to start work. An auspicious day as we had first seen the house exactly 8 months previously on May 11th and arrived in Portugal to live on September 11th.

At the end of the day they had completely removed the main roof and started demolishing the bathroom. This had been a fairly recent extension to the original farmhouse and wasn’t constructed very well so we have decided to replace it.

Meanwhile, we continue to work on the garden. As promised here is a photo of our first cloche and the space set aside for the shed.

As discussed previously, it’s been pretty cold recently. In this photo you can just see some flecks of snow but I can tell you at one stage it was a complete white-out. However, none of it stuck. It also continues to remain bloody cold in our rented house. We’ve hung impromptu blanket/curtains up in an attempt to stop the chilled blasts coming through the window frames. Here’s Jackie huddled up next to the gas fire. Roll on summer.

Another false start

January 9, 2010 richard Comments 0 Comment

So, Thursday came and went with no sign of the builder. We are used to such disappointments, so we were not too disheartened. It was an added shame in that it was the first bright sunny day we had had in ages – but then again it meant a glorious day for getting down to the myriad of things that needed to be done in the garden.

I made another extension to the compost heap as Dolly (our neighbour’s horse) continues to produce poo at a tremendous rate. Apparently horse poo is the best thing for the veggie garden but needs to settle down for 6 months before we can use it. I think by then half our garden will be one huge compost heap. In comparison we are meticulously saving our food scraps in another compost heap which seems to go down as quickly as we put stuff in. A good sign of course as it means it is composting down to rich nutritious ‘stuff’.

This compost will soon be ready for our first ‘raised bed’ which Jackie has been digging over in preparation for our first planting – spuds. Unfortunately however, in her digging she is coming across prodigious amounts of vine weevils which apparently lie in wait to munch through any roots that come their way.

I’ve also been busy digging, taking the turf off an area which will be augmented with the garden shed. Round these parts, sheds and similar buildings are built with bricks, so I shall do the same. I have to say, having no experience in such matters, I fear I will be rather pathetically overwhelmed by this relatively basic task – certainly basic for the locals round here. I am hoping that Luis, our neighbour, will be able to point me in the right direction before I make an absolute idiot out of myself. In the meantime as I brace myself for this larger enterprise, I hope I can build my confidence by erecting an even more menial structure – the cloche. Rather like a miniature poly tunnel. Hopefully a few photos of this will appear here next week.

We have also been experiencing winter frosts. Not quite the thick winter snow of the UK, but this morning we were treated to views of the far valley covered in a white dusting and we had to clear thick frost from the windscreen of the truck. In preparation for the colder days ahead we ordered more wood for the woodburning stove and went on a foraging expedition in the surrounding forest for pine cones. Pine cones are nature’s firelighters. You can understand why forest fires can be so devastating once you see one of these little guys flare up.

For those not accustomed, it may seem strange that winter is the time for another crop – oranges. I have mentioned them in a previous post but loads have now ripened on our trees and we have more orange juice than we know what to do with. As they are really sweet, they are great for eating but not the best for marmelade. However, Jackie has made some anyway and I reckon it’s fine. It’s also good for the mulled wine!

We’ve also been doing a bit more shopping for the house. Today we bought a bedroom set for the spare bedroom and have our eye on a sofa bed for the lounge, so we’ll have plenty of room for guests. Judging by people’s keenness to visit us, I think we’ll need them. Just need to get started on the Bl**dy house now!

By the way, the builder said he was busy finishing off at another place and promised work would start on Monday. We’re not holding our breath.

the story of Casa Azul

and a new life in deepest Portugal

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