Bright spark!!!

Another beautiful day doing a few tidying up jobs on the inside decor and then we decided to work on the garden. We have been desperate to grind off the concrete posts above the fencing which made us feel our house was in prison grounds!!! (see picture)

Having ground 4 concrete posts off we had to grind through the wires which support the gravevines which grow throughout the summer. On the last one we looked up to find the opposite garden across the lane was on fire !!!!! We realised that this must have been started by a spark from the grinder and as it was a fairly windy day, the spark had been carried off in the air and landed on the dry grass which had been previously strimmed but not raked away. In the blink of an eye the fire had spread rapidly and within seconds an olive tree was on fire. We were frantically running with buckets of water to the garden trying to and put the fire out but it quickly became obvious we would never have been able to get it under control. As if by a miracle, along came a local on his tractor which had a water tank on it. He jumped down and immediately set his hose up to begin extinguishing the fire. Along came another local in his van who also helped in putting the fire out. We were so, so. grateful to these locals as without their appearance at the right times, this fire would have got so seriously out of hand we cannot begin to imagine the consequences.

It has taught us such a valuable lesson in respecting both the dry, arid conditions of the landscape because the hot season is still a few months away. It's hard to realise just how dry the ground and trees are as Portugal has had an exceptionally dry winter with no rain at all.

We found out today by a local that the police had called round to inspect the damage (so from having "one foot out of prison" we may have very nearly ended up well and truly locked up!!!!

That's all for now - keep reading for more dramas!!!!

Another interesting day for us

Hi everyone another strange but rewarding day today, we went out stone collecting to replenish our stocks, firstly at the river beach and then onto the woods. It is going to be an on-going task to collect enough to complete the building of our great "wall of china" and our planned fishpond! Whilst out in the woods Rob suffered yet another shock when he bent down to pick up a large piece of stone and was confronted by a scorpion with its tail up in the air ready to pounce! Scared him to death and we now have to be doing research on the dangers of wild life in the countryside.

The photo shows our new acquisition of a "top of the range" sturdy wheelbarrow purchased from the local B & Q (ha ha we found it on our property) but it will see our days out!!

As you can see from photograph it has been a case of laying one stone and having a drink of vino kindly supplied by our neighbour who we have named Batatas Man (potatoes) as he is always down at his plot tending to his potatoes. (No doubt the wall will end up wonky if he keeps supplying us with his home-made vino tinto)!!!!!

Later in the afternoon we took a stroll down to our "local" cafe bar and met a few locals and after much sign language and looking up the words in our portuguese

phrase book came away with eggs, cabbage, potatoes and olive oil!!!

just another day

well what an adventurous day!! got a break from the relentless inside decorating today and had a few hours outdoors, sorting stone and laying the first course of our new garden wall.
whilst laying and minding my own business a snake popped up and slithered alongside me and made me sh#te my pants!!!!.
after having a chat later in the day with our local building merchant i was relieved to find out that all snakes in portugal are non venomous.
to cap a lovely spring day(23degrees) we looked out at the night sky and saw an amazing array of stars unlike any you would see in anywhere in the uk.
wonderful end to the day.

progress!!!

Hi folks, we are 10 days in now and feel absolutely blessed to be here.  Words can't explain what a privilege it is to be in a country where people are so warm, welcoming and friendly and it feels like going back to the "good old days" in Blighty when families and friends came before materialistic things.

Renovation works are coming on a treat.  It has taken us a while tracking down locations and stores for materials but we are now well on top of it.

We have already made friends with quite a few neighbours, they are so welcoming and keep supplying us with their home grown produce.

Things have been extremely hectic for us but we will find the time to keep the blog updated on a more regular basis once we start slowing our work pace down!!!

Please email us to let us know you are following our  blog with a quick hello!!
That's all for now folks!

our house in its present state before modernisations

our place in the sun

Well we have finally completed a purchase of our new home in portugal,after revisiting in february 2012,and finding "our place" in a provence called proenca a nova,in the principality of castelo branco, beirra baxa region.
We will be arriving the first week in march,and once we have acquired an internet connection we will then be posting regular updates,photos etc of how things progress.
We are very excited but just as equally nervous as to how it will all work out, and no doubt there will be plenty of high and low points,lets hope we can take it all in our stride