the magic valley

feliz natal x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:41:00 +0000

15° and very sunny in Nadadouro 10° in Portreath

I'm so sorry for the delay inbetween posts. Life really has just got in the way. Brrrrr! We've been having some really chilly mornings, bright, crisp and festive but the afternoon light in our new extension has been sublime, really lifts my mood.

I've been preparing for our first Christmas in our new home. So far it's been a piece of cake. Firstly my Dave simply arrived with our tree one night after work with no prompting needed. We are surrounded by lush pine forests and our little tree somehow just found its way into his truck. Secondly, i don't really want anything as such! [except some doors... etc etc], which makes life even easier. For maybe the first time in my life i feel content with all i have around me. I think a bit of a zen moment is coming on.

I'm really looking forward to some good ole family time, which obviously involves bbq, tv, fizz and a dollop of gardening. Talking of which, we are now the proud owners of a lovely kitchen garden patch, on the edge of our patio, next to our neighbours house.

We were going to put chickens there, just temporarily, but thankfully decided not too fearing the smell would be just a little too fresh, and also our neighbour complained about our intentions. How the hell she found out i will never know, maybe she understands more english than she admits. We've now planted some rosemary, lavender, radishes, beans, lettuce, parsley and coriander. How exciting, the magic valley is back. x

we've come a long way x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:03:00 +0000

16° in Nadadouro 14° in Portreath

November has arrived with monsoon like downpours and howling gales, but still between storms the sun beats down with enough heat to warm our bones.

This week has been 'finish painting the bloody house quick' week. And Dave has been a star. Inbetween working 6 days a week, he's managed to make a new drain, render the front of the house and paint the aforementioned walls beautifully - check out our new yellow stripe. We also now have a mini front garden with a few spikey agaves and also some strong smelling herbs to hopefully deter the roaming dogs from using our plot as a toilet!

I really can't believe it takes so long to finish a house, but once moved in, life returns to normal, and all the things that need doing don't really look that bad. I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to build our own home, finishing a few things off here and there can take all the time in the world. x

olives x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:41:00 +0000

22° in Nadadouro 15° in Portreath

After reading Miscellanie's blog about picking her olive crop i thought it was about time i harvested mine. Unfortunately it's not as impressive as her 175kg, but my 91 olives is treble last years crop.

Hopefully by Christmas we will have a nice little nibble on the side. x

and then there was light x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:49:00 +0000

still 24° in Nadadouro 16° in Portreath

Each day brings another thing for us to stand back and marvel at. Yesterday's development was outside lighting. I got these beauties shipped over from the UK by Amazon - free shipping really does add to the sparkle - as they were nearly double the price here.

Last night was such a wonderful balmy evening, my husband was strumming his guitar, and the wine really did taste of sunshine. Cheers to more of these days, shouldn't they always be like this? x

sold? x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:32:00 +0000

24° in Nadadouro 16° in Portreath

I just want to wish Ana and Phil a big good luck with their house search on the Silver Coast.

Your dream home is out there somewhere. x

who needs doors x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:09:00 +0000

26° in Nadadouro 15° in Portreath

Sorry for the delay on the updates, at last we have moved in and have our home! Boxes are unpacked, paintings are hung and a semblance of a real life is happening for us. Jacob came back from the UK very excited to see his new room and sunshine! It was great to pick him up from the airport and to show him our new place after 7 weeks away. I miss him so when he's away from us.

So the kitchen is fully fitted and is such a dream to use. But even better is having drains! The council finally decided to connect us to the main sewer!!!!! Please don't ask about our habits for the last couple of weeks, but needless to say, having a shower under a watering can has just about lost its appeal, even though bathing outside is quite a joy at this time of year. The next time i shower outside i swear will because i've just had a swim in my garden [still to be realised], or at the beach, rather than for necessity.

Now my lovely Dave has tiled and fitted our first bathroom. The beautiful tiles came from Spain only to find i didn't order enough, I need 12 more! Doh! We just have to add a glass shower screen, a few accessories and a bathroom door [!!!] and it's done.

We have also played host to our lovely sister Dianne. She's been jet setting all over Europe this summer. It was a great week of fizz, pimientos and laughter. Come back soon Dodo x

Love x

it's all about the marble - part 2 x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 17:17:00 +0000

21° in Nadadouro 16° in Portreath

Yesterday afternoon, after waiting all week the marble worktop came. It was just in the back of the fitters' truck - six pieces of cream marble with the most amazing disco, glittery, white stripe! A couple more blokes appeared and they all huffed, puffed, sawed, adjusted and finally successfully fitted our new top.

We are just speechless - really, really love x

festa again x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:49:00 +0000

25° in Nadadouro 16° in Portreath

Another tiring week in Nads! So much seems to be happening so quickly, when all i really want to do now is retreat to the beach with a cocktail and a good book. Ho hum - maybe next summer.

As i type my Dave is painting our other lounge/snug. This is where we'll put the TV and my office for now. This week he painted the old wooden floor upstairs. We had some great guys come and sand it to death so now it's lovely and smooth, but still very very old, so a lick of white eggshell has done it proud.

Also Victor has made us an amazing Kambala [iroko] staircase to match our front door. The handrails are up and i think this area will be our new bedroom for the foreseeable future as our bathroom is sort of full up of STUFF.

We also have our terrace cordoned off with new handrails, made by Mario and his crew from Foz do Arelho. They are the same colour as the window frames and will keep us from any Kamikaze actions we might feel on a late saturday night - just for laughs of course!

To top the week off, we've had a festa in honour of Our Lady. The pic below shows our local bishop trotting around the village under his sun canopy, followed by the majority of the village, well at least the God fearing ones.

Once again the music was booming and there's no sleep till well passed 3am! Now this goes on for 6 days people. However I did have a little outing at the weekend, which was a bit of a mistake. We had already started moving house and had one more night in our rental, i needed my asthma pump and realised it was moved. So i shuffled off around to get it and thought i'd make a detour via festa to see what was on. Well 4 hours later, i was danced out and stumbled home, full of wine and smiles. Until a few hours later of course when it was time to finish moving! x

yummy new tiles x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:08:00 +0000

22° in Nadadouro 18° in Portreath

I've just ordered these beautiful tiles from Mosaic del Sur in Spain. They do some variable patchwork assortments, i suppose from leftovers from orders. Very very yummy i think you'll agree. This is the first time i have really really wanted to buy something for the house which is well over budget! Having a shower will never feel so good x

painting and tiling x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 09:44:00 +0000

16° in Nadadouro 17° in Portreath

It's all go go go! Today we are moving most of our stuff into our new house - hooray. Unfortunately we can't stay in it as the council haven't connected our drains yet! Slightly disappointing, but we still have a lot to do in the house, so we can crash around the corner at our mate's house.

Many more pics to come but here's some of my Dave doing his thing - love x

cladding x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:16:00 +0000

14° in Nadadouro 3° in Portreath [yes my widget seriously said 3°]

It has been another busy week at Casa Lemm.

No dramas thank goodness, just a lot of hard work. The plaster masters Antonio and Pedro [i've nicknamed them Ant and Dec, and no, they don't know that!] have plastered the ceilings throughout downstairs and added the kitchen cupboard wall too. A very crisp and precise job.

The sparky crew have wired up the place and very soon we will have light and power throughout.

Victor carpinteira [see how good my Portuguese is getting now!] came and measured up for the stairs and said they will be delivered on Monday! Today is Friday and we need to tile the floor! So this weekend will be taken up on our hands and knees. He has cut out a tester hole and the light is flooding into the basement. Although we have planned this for so long, it was a monumental moment.

Antonio [another one!] is cladding our feature wall outside with fantastic rusty coloured bits of slate. And the rest of the boys have been sorting the outside stairs, drainage and patio area out ready for the Brazilians who will be laying the calcadas [cobbles] any day now.

Upstairs each evening the house was full of building stuff, but yesterday we went in and it was cleared out! We seriously have so much more space. This is going to be great. x

terrace fixed x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:15:00 +0000

21° in Nadadouro 18° in Portreath

Hooray, the terrace is now back to how it was a couple of weeks ago! The guys only have to lay the terracotta tiles then it's done, phew!

Not much more to do now, i really can't believe that we're nearly there. It's just the front door and stairs to be fitted and the second fix electrics to be sorted after the well insulated ceilings are completed, and then the calcada terrace outside leading to the garden! Calcadas are little square cobble stones, which apparently will be laid by the Brazilians next week. The kitchen is due mid July, so we have to get on and tile tile tile!

This week i had to get the tiles delivered from Lealmat. They sent 130 60cm square boxes in a lorry with one [small] driver. I suppose he was supposed to shift them on his own, which would have taken all day. However our builders pitched in and an hour and 15 cold beers later the job was done. We have to tile the whole downstairs next weekend as the kitchen and stairs must go on top, which will be fun. At last we can do something, Dave is a tile master and i'm the queen of grout! Now where did i put those knee pads ... x

burning down the house x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:14:00 +0000

23° in Nadadouro 13° in Portreath

Phew yesterday was a scorcher and my Dave treated our wood wormed basement ceiling - twice! They were really nasty smelly chemicals so they must be good eh?

Each morning i wander to our pad and open all the windows so the place can dry out. All the new plaster and screed has a high percentage of water, so i suppose it will take a few weeks to cure.

We are surrounded by pine and eucalyptus forests and one spark could be a disaster. So from Easter until the first rains of winter we live in a fire free zone. But hey rules are made to be broken right. Undeterred our neighbour thought she'd do a bit of weeding yesterday afternoon, while it was 31° and not a rain cloud or emergency bucket of water in sight ...

windows x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:29:00 +0000

31° in Nadadouro 14° in Portreath

Last week was another monumental one in our lives. The leaky terrace was fixed, hooray. Two layers of black bitumen waterproofing, embedded up the sides of the house by about 20cm, was laid in a day. Then a new screed will be laid and then finally our terracotta tiles. What a relief to have this sorted, we can really relax about this now. My poor Dave seems to be getting greyer by the day!

The other fantastic event was the delivery of our gorgeous windows. We had chosen frames in granite grey [7026] from the RAL colour system. I had noticed all the modern buildings i loved had grey frames, and wanted to emulate the same feeling in our little house too. I think when we're finished it will give that really polished look that we're trying to achieve.

Our window supplier Telmo from Chaves Aluminos Oeste has done a splendid job. He said that for our job he's made the smallest window he's ever made - 50cm square for the downstairs loo - and the largest window too - our triple sliding door nearly 5m across!

I have a feeling that we are not tipico, c'est la vie! x

we had a leak x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:50:00 +0000

20° in Nadadouro 10° in Portreath

All had been going brilliantly, then we had another downpour and where the old house met the new extension created a little bit of seepage into our new downstairs. Again we're feeling blessed that it rained when it did and the house wasn't totally finished. We met with Jose who said that they hadn't waterproofed the terrace the way it was designed to be! All you really want out of any house is two vital things - that it won't fall down, and that it can keep you dry!

So this is what our lovely new terrace looked like yesterday! Four inches of concrete removed, then a thick membrane will be laid, then a new layer of concrete.

It's a bit disheartening, and i really hope it doesn't hold up our moving in date, but this is vital for our peace of mind and dryness.

On a lighter note, we had our lovely friends Mary and Zip come and visit us on their Harley, all the way from Devon. What a joy to see another set of smiling faces for a couple of days. They've now left for the Algarve, then to Spain and finally back to Santander to get the ferry back to Plymouth. Thanks for coming guys, you rock x

painting x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:10:00 +0000

21° in Nadadouro 13° in Portreath

I am so ready to move back into our own home. I miss my stuff - i know there's not much of it but the little i have i miss, and i'd like to get a little bit more. While the lovely Sally and Keef were here we found this rather yummy Asian furniture store in town. Full of painted cabinets and shiny things. I eventually got my husband down there for a snoop. Blimey - it was only shut! You should have seen the look of relief on Dave's face! I think i'll try again next week.

Hooray, summer is back and yesterday my Dave started priming the outside of our place. It seems like a dream that this day has come. Here's some before and after shots. It's amazing what a bit of primer can do to lift a girl's spirits x

This view is from our neighbour's!

And the next two are from the top of our new staircase.

And these last two are from the cantilevered edge, which eventually will be inaccessible except to the odd plant or two.

Last but not least our windows are nearly ready. The glass is on its way from Spain and they should be complete and finished within a couple of weeks ....

.... really really LOVE xx

my friends x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:01:00 +0000

15° in Nadadouro 11° in Portreath

This is a thank you to my lovely friends Sally and Keef, who came to visit us the other day. We marched them around our build and expressed our vision. They lifted our hearts and made them sing. Gave us encouragement and love and made me realise just how much I really miss their smiling faces.

Thanks for coming to visit us in Portugal lovelies. We had a splendid time in the sun, come back soon x

The build is progressing so fast now I just can't seem to catch up. Yesterday another layer of the terrace was completed, a thick concrete screed. Downstairs in the extension they are doing the same, suddenly all the pipes are disappearing and it's starting to look like a real house!

An exciting weekend to come. We're off to our first Portuguese wedding. Congratulations Jewelz and Johnny, you're made for each other x

oh blimey we've had a flood x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:10:00 +0000

26° in Nadadouro 14° in Portreath

About two weeks ago we had a torrential downpour. For a few days in a row, within a 20 minute slot, when it started to rain it didn't stop until every last drop in the cloud was squeezed. As you can imagine the ground around here is always rock hard, so all that excess water found every possible place to go. This was our turn to discover the perils of floods. As I waded through our soggy basement, I thanked the powers that be for flooding now before all our lovely floor was down [ever the optimist]. So after another site meeting we were told that the water was coming from under the ground and wasn't run off. Now I think I did mention the idea of bottling our spring [well] water and making a small fortune as the next best thing to Evian, but not with the spring under my lounge! Thankfully the engineer and constructor were already on the case and a solution has been found. Plastic. Now this really made Dave smile, as all along he's been carrying the torch for a good thick sheet of plastic to prevent moisture intrusion, and now his want will be reality. A tragedy narrowly averted.

Not only did our house flood, but so did our rental - twice! For some reason the rainwater [thank god that's all it was] decided to fill our bathroom too! I had my wellies on inside and out in May!

So back to the project. Antonio and Pedro have skimmed most of the upstairs walls. They look fantastic, really, really smooth. Chico and Rui are methodically rendering the outside walls. It is such a craft, I really appreciate the effort they are putting into it. Seeing those guys carefully smoothing the render as if icing a cake.

The windows are due in about a month, so before then the underfloor heating will be installed and then we [yes us!!] have to tile about 100 square metres of floor. This has to be done before the stairs or the kitchen can be put in.

I just can't believe there's only a couple of months to go x

lots going on x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:34:00 +0000

22° in Nadadouro 12° in Portreath

Since my last post our house now has
new walls inside and out
central heating tails and the woodburner installed
limestone door and window sills
first fix electrics and plumbing
structures in walls for our toilets and bidets
a barbecue area
2 new chimneys - nearly a three
and the mound of rubble out the back is nearly touching our new terrace!

The rubble mound [actually i think this is the third one!] has been carted there by our labourer Alchide so we've aptly renamed it Mount Alchide in his honour. All of our builders are the nicest guys you could ever care to meet on a building site, polite, smiley and working like Trojans.

I suppose because most of the ladies around here are older [polite] and take to wearing their nylon pinafores all the time [don't ask], the boys seem less boorish than their British counterparts. Yesterday I counted 15 of them doing a kind of builder dance around the place, getting on with the task at hand and being meticulous at the same time. I can't praise them highly enough. If you are ever planning a build around here call Jose Capinha, our civil engineer and Sergio Costa the constructor.

Last night around the dinner table we discussed whether we would contemplate doing this again. It's NO if we have to live elsewhere and not be at home, but a resounding YES if we can design, plan and build from the comfort of Nadadouro.

Dave and I are taking it in turns to stress out about what's going on. Last night it was Dave's turn to lie awake for hours planning this and that and worrying about the same too. Our heads are so full we're going to need this lovely house to recoup! x

sunshine-y day x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:33:00 +0000

29° in Nadadouro 17° in Portreath

Phew! The temperature's rising all over europe, at last! With that our house is now taking another leap forward. We met a really nice smiley guy called Rodrigo, who introduced himself as our plumber. After a while of marking fittings for our showers and taps etc on walls, he swapped hats and became our sparky! Now although we were confident about the light/socket placement, it suddenly felt over the top to point every couple of metres and exclaim that we want another electrical outlet there!

Another burning desire we had was to have a vaulted ceiling upstairs in the new house, but really thought we couldn't afford it! How lovely to find out that for a small amount more we could have our dream realised!

We're continually thinking about our budget and it is giving me palpitations, but hey let the cheques roll. Today we purchased our sanitaryware! We've managed to source a carpenter to make us a front door and i think next week it's decision time on the windows.

I have a feeling we'll be in before we know it x

keeping warm x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:52:00 +0000

13° in Nadadouro 8° in Portreath

After posting about the wood pile last night I thought i should give you an updated photo. It's about 2m high, good eh.

And we've had the hole cut out for our new fire. Aren't builders great. Good work lads x

trying to be more eco x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:43:00 +0000

15° in Nadadouro 11° in Portreath

Things are suddenly moving on. Firstly the kitchen fitter appeared and chalked up the places for the water, gas and electricity to go. Hooray, i just can't believe it.

Today we met with the heating engineer, Tim, who is going to install our solar heating system. At last something eco to think about inbetween all that concrete! We have a woodburner and solar panels attached to a large water tank to supply all our hot water. We've chosen a great double sided woodburner, which should power the underfloor and central heating, practical as well as looking rather yummy too.

My Dave has had his lumber jack head on ever since we've moved to Portugal. Look at our fantastic wood pile - we won't be feeling any icy chills next winter, that's for sure x

just so lovely x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:13:00 +0000

13° in Nadadouro 9° in Portreath

I saw this lovely print from another blog i follow, and it just seemed so right to give to my Dave to celebrate our 2 years strong. 2 years is our cotton anniversary, not only is this printed on 100% cotton rag paper, the artist is Canadian.

I think it really suits us x

Love by Helen Dardik

up and down x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:47:00 +0000

13° in Nadadouro 9° in Portreath

We've had a lovely scout around our 'hood' today. Off to the other side of the Lagoa, intense changes happening. Loads of eucalyptus has been felled, revealing the golf resort of Bom Sucesso. Suddenly our surroundings are put into perspective.

Before our little excursion around the Silver Coast, me and my Dave had the pleasure of having a virgin stomp up and down our new stairs. Amazing, brilliant, fab x

2 years strong x

noreply@blogger.com (Imoferias Portugal) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:37:00 +0000

19° in Nadadouro 13° in Portreath

Inbetween now and my last post we've moved house - again! From Eduardo the first's to Eduardo the second's abode. Although we had downsized to move out of our little home, moving this weekend filled me with dread. Not only the packing but cleaning and lifting and saying goodbye to the comfort we had had for the winter. However we now have loads more space including a separate office come spare bedroom, and a house filled with only our stuff. We've moved over our plant collection too, which makes us feel at home.

We had a lovely hot, blue sky day on Sunday to celebrate our 2nd year of marriage. Almost a re-run of our wedding day except all the UK crew were missing. But the sun shone all day and of course the fizz flowed.

Our house is roofed and the boys are now rendering her inside and out. And oh what another fabulous friday, the cement truck went passed earlier and we now have stairs leading down from the top terrace. Well done Sergio, keep it going x