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The house (almost) sorted
June and August 2008 and a bit of October |
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Here are some more photos from out June trip that didn't make the previous page, and a few from August. The tiling has been finished now and we even got around to some decorating - no easy task in the heat of summer in Spain - but the lounge is looking great now and all ready for the new suite we ordered which will be delivered in early December we hope.
Returning for a quick 4-day break in October to pick up our new car, we managed to choose the worst 4 days of rain of the year. Thunder, lightning, torrential downpours and about 15 minutes of sun in the whole 4 days. At the bottom of here you will see pictures of a rare sight - the normally dry river bed (the rambla) in full flow for the second time in as many weeks.
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| No excuses for including another picture of 'our' mountain, we just love the view |
And this is how the front garden looks now, with the grape vines doing quite well on the garage wall |
And it's here you can see the start of the new tile-work we have had done - tidying up the front steps and making it look more welcoming |
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| The conifers are doing well - we'll need to watch they don't spoil the view down the valley |
This view, from the lounge door toward the front door shows off the new floor tiles |
As you can see, traditional pattern tiles provide a border between the outside tiles, which continue through the rest of the rooms, and the slightly darker centre tiles. |
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| And this shows them better |
This is the visitor's bedroom, now completed other than needing a little more furniture |
and the view from that bedroom into the hall |
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| At the other side of the hall is the Study/third bedroom which, as you can see, has been tiled but little else done. This is unlikely to get sorted until we move out there |
And now the lounge, still with the borrowed suite (thanks Denise!), but looking much better for having a proper floor down |
And the view from the dining area back into the lounge and on into the kitchen |
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| We have also replaced the tiles around the fire, to match those in the hall. |
And we couldn't resist a close up of the central heating - a rarity in Saliente. Only needed for a couple of months of the year - but when it is, it is! |
This is the view into the en suite, now it too is finished |
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| And a fully functional shower |
How's this for a view from a bathroom window? It's fantastic to get showered in the morning sun as it streams in thorough the window |
And whilst we're on about views, this is the view from the main bedroom. The bars are the rejas, or burglar bars, which allow you to leave windows wide-open whilst still being secure |
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| And the view from the lounge over the pool. Gardening and planting are being left until we move over and can look after them properly |
We also had the kitchen walls tiled above the granite work-tops and round the new window |
And this is the view from the kitchen window, through the rejas |
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| And so another review of the front, showing off our grape vines surviving in spite of neglect |
And down the side of the house showing off the new wall |
And telephone pole! |
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| These are the steps down the mountain side (you can see the top of them in the middle picture of the row above). They go down to our cave |
And the wall you can see, shelters the cave entrance. It's only a small cave! |
The view down the valley from above the cave entrance |
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| The finished pool area, including outside shower |
And the pool area looking toward (the back of) the house |
Outside shower - surprisingly practical when the temperature can get to 40°C in the shade |
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| A close up of the pool surround. It's actually painted and printed concrete |
From the deep end of the pool is the yet-to-be-developed garden and the ruin of the old village school |
Same area, from the other direction |
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| This is our drive running up to the road - very steep first-gear stuff. |
And looking down from the road toward the house (the long garage you can see with the dark door belongs to our neighbours) |
And here's the view of the top of the drive from the road (I doubt you will be able to make it out) |
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| So here's a closer view. The entrance is actually between the two green bushes toward the centre of the picture. |
And here it is. It's like dropping off the side of the mountain! |
Finally, this is our mountain again but at the end of the day as the sun disappears behind it.
Simply stunning. |
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| This is a view from our terrace overlooking the normally dry rambla but, in October, it was running with water |
Further down the river/rambla is a place where an earlier 'run' had gouged out a large hole inthe river bed making it impassible to vehicles so a detour up and over the river-bank had to be constructed |
But this was where it all went wrong the second time the river ran. Water will always find a way through no matter what man does. |
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All original content on this page is © Stuart & Darryl 2008 |
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