GOOD news!!!!!!

Makes a change, doesn't it?

We haven't updated our blog for ages, mostly due to not being able to make any decisions that felt right, or were actually achievable.... However, as we were hoping, fate took care of it for us and by being patient and giving ourselves time (and not wasting too much money) we came over another little property by accident....

We saw this tiny little house for sale on the internet in an area we both really like, and which is also very popular with holiday makers and surfers.  As the price was in our range, we did not have high hopes for the place, it was too good to be true.  BUT when we got there it was exactly what we had been looking for. It is tiny (i.e. doable), it has 4 walls and a roof (i.e. no major construction work needed), it has an outdoor space, which again is tiny (i.e. increases rental/onward sales potential, and is manageable!), it is only 1 km from the beach (i.e. in the village close to shops and cafes, but close enough to cycle to the beach!). Well, the main factors for us was of course the price, but also the fact that we could start work straight away.

The purchase went through while we were visited by Glenn's lovely sister and husband, which was great, as it gave us a bit of a holiday too before the work was to commence!



Our little house!



More photos under the photo section on the right..... 

IT'S GONE !!!!!!!!!!!!

Susie's parents arrived last night.Excited to have the extra helping hands and some dry weather,we set off this morning for the land to hopefully get lots done,it's been 7 days since we we're last there due to the rain and on arrival we noticed something was drastically different! THE CARAVAN HAS BEEN STOLEN!!!!! Along with all our tools inside including a petrol generator,a petrol strimmer and an electric water pump!!
But on the plus side we did end up having the day on the beach fishing instead

All donations to the new caravan fund are greatly appreciated

They are growing!

Our very own mushrooms!!! Woohooo!

More photos...

Some photos from a bike ride round the lagoon and from one of our evening walks....

A bit boring to get old and sensible. Hat AND sunglasses for our bike ride, together with spf 50 of course...

The lagoon on the "other" side, so peaceful

View over lagoon towards "our" side

Evening walk

Carrot cake made by Glenn for our lovely friends Jen and Fredde, it was the best carrot cake ever!!!

A photo update

Just thought a few photos would be in order....

Our apricot tree is growing!!!!

Everywhere is so overgrown at the mo, but you can sort of see that the work with secuirng our drive has started....

So much to clear

Thank god Glenn is strong and hard working, a few more weeks and we should get it done :-)

We are back!

After having a couple of weeks away we have come back with fresh thoughts and new energy.  Well, maybe not lots of energy but enough for now.

We have decided to stick with the original plan and build OUR house.... It may be stupid and the complete wrong thing to do but finally (????) we have made the decision.

Whilst we were away we had a guy digging out our driveway and putting a borehole in for the excess water. He is due to return to compact the soil and complete the drainage and then we should be heading towards a drier driveway for next winter, which seems like a good start to us.

We still have all the planning and legal side to go through and have a looooooong journey ahead of us, but at least we have decided on something.  Not saying this is it or that we can't stray from our plan, just acknowledging the fact that we have started doing something.

It was quite amazing to come back after only 2 weeks away to see how much our fruit trees have grown, together with all the weeds and grass etc of course.  We are pretty excited to note that we have a lot more fruit trees growing than we knew and actually may have to take a few of them down.  This should be ok as they are only tiny yet.

Today was spent clearing a lot of the weeds and bushes growing wild (thank you Steve for lending us your strimmer!!!!!) and planting a few more bits, such as potatoes. We were hoping to get hold of some Jersey royals to put in the ground but this seemed impossible so we have stuck with good old King Edward and hope for a few bunches.

Since we got back on Monday the weather has been absolutely stunning, between 24-29 degrees and total sunshine, just what we came here for!!! Long may it last....

Anyway, if anyone is good with drawing house plans and have good ideas, please let us know asap!!!

Decisions....

Simon and Claire at the most westernly point of Portugal, near Sagres

On Sunday we had to say goodbye to our second lot of visitors, Claire and Simon.  It was most definitely a sad day.

The week did not start off with the best weather but we headed south for a couple of days and managed to find the sun and warmth, which we brought back up with us so all in all it was not bad. We do hope they had as nice a time as we did, and that they will be back soon.

Once our holiday with our friends was over, it was back to trying to make some decisions.  We now more or less know that building on our land is way off our budget and if we were to do so, it will be many, many years before we recover our costs, should we ever wish to sell. If we had an income and were 100% sure we wanted to stay for the rest of our lives, perhaps it would be an option.

We have been to view a few other places and have so far made one offer on a property further up north, which was rejected. We are currently considering making an offer on a place with a project in place (i.e. building permission has already been obtained) but in an area we don't really know. It is not too far from here and it looks lovely, but as we would build this one to sell and hopefully make a profit, we feel it is important that the area is attractive to buyers. From our personal point of view it would be perfect, as we could start the work straight away and get the caravan up there fairly soon to cut costs (but of course not until we have had our last visitors staying), so there are a few pros and cons....

Today we had an estate agent come to our land to value it, and it seems we could make a small profit. But it is still a tough decision to make, as it was not bought by practicality or with profit making in mind, but by the heart and for love of that particular spot in this world.  Sense, and most people we have spoken to, says to sell and leave all the hard decisions behind, heart says to keep... What to do?

We were hoping there would be an option of keeping the top bit of land and perhaps get planning permission to build there, or to buy the ruin next door to the plot.  Today, however, we found out that it is impossible to get planning permission for this part of the land, and also that the ruin next door won't sell, as it has multiple owners and they cannot agree on the sale.  Most of the time less options are good, especially if you are a female, but this time it was really two options we really wanted to keep.

So we have a few decisions to make and we need to make them fairly soon.  Hopefully the next post will bring some good news :-)