Living the "summertime dream" ...........

Having almost completed our major renovations we are now reaping the rewards of what Portugal has to offer us.
With the weather being really good since March it's beginning to feel  like this summer is everlasting. We began by taking a week away in April down on the  western side of The Algarve, basing ourselves in Carvoeiro and driving to some beautiful tranquil natural beaches along the coast towards Sagres, and, I even managed a swim in the sea which surprised me as it can be very cold in spring. One of the bonuses of holidaying out of season means the resorts and beaches are less crowded and you can even find "your own little piece of tranquil paradise!". Some snaps of various beaches tried and tested !!!!!

Blissful summer .......... starting with Froia River Beach

We are now finally finding the time to wake up each morning eager to enjoy the day and feeling able to take full advantage of the hot summer days! Although we have had a few torturous heatwaves, we have now learnt how to conquer those days by swimming and relaxing in the shade down at our local beautiful river beach at Froia. It's an absolute gem to visit if any of our readers are in this region, along with it's numerous other local river beaches. We must admit the Portuguese certainly know how to maximize their abundance of beauty spots!!! And to top it, it only costs your petrol money to get there - no car parking fees, no entry fees, picnic areas with BBQ's for free use, sun-loungers, chairs and parasols all for free use! Cafe and restaurant on site too! It's amazing to have all these naturally beautiful amenities, we feel so lucky and privileged to be experiencing living such a happy lifestyle in Portugal.

Loft renovation finished !!!!

We had a few little odd jobs to finish off in the loft (which unfortunately got put on the back burner once the warmer weather kicked in and we chose to ignore it!) but they were only minor and a good clear up and clear out has now been done and we have some photos.
We still need to make a trip into Lisbon to buy some beds and storage space and after that trip has been made we shall be ready for visitors.
If any of our blog readers are interested in viewing properties in the Central Region and in need of accommodation, please leave us a comment below and email address and we shall get back to you if the rooms are available for use.
Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Above lounge.

Shower room

Roof is now on the summerhouse

As we mentioned before on the last blog this is Rob's first attempt at roofing a building so he sought some advice from our local builder's merchant. Basically we had two options, one being an aluminium roof or another being a traditional rustic tile roof. We much prefer the look of the terracotta tiles so after doing a costing we decided to take that option. It did, of course, mean more expense and more work but they do look so much nicer on the eye! We really wished our house had these terracotta tiles on but sadly it doesn't and I'm afraid at the moment the funds aren't there to be able to have the roof re-tiled but ...... maybe one day ............!!!
So, once the decision was made and the order for the concrete beams and tiles had been delivered from the builder's merchant and were on site, we realized that between us we didn't have enough strength to pick up the larger of the concrete beams. As always though we muddled through and luckily our good neighbour came to offer us his help and between us we managed to carry and elevate them onto the roof. It wasn't an easy task but we achieved it and managed to get them in the correct places for the tiles. Once cemented and pointed in we began putting the tiles on. Not too difficult was this one and the summerhouse started to look the "part"!
After more (and more) pointing and cementing in they were finally done!!!!!!
Concrete roof beams in place

First two rows of tiles

Nearly there .............
To clad the pillars we wanted to use the same pedra which we used in the Adega but this colour stone is only mined down in the southern region (the Algarve) so to buy it here it costs more than double the price than it does on the Algarve but we bought a couple of metres locally to get us started and will then bring the remainder up from the Algarve on our next trip.

If you look closely you can see the inside back wall has had some work started on it but this will be the subject of our next blog. Also keen gardeners will notice the potatoes sprutting up in the adjacent veggie plot. Our dear neighbour, Joakim (aged 82), kindly offered to plant up for us as we had just started building the summerhouse and it was time for the potatoes to be planted and it was only 3 weeks ago! I still cannot believe how quickly plants thrive here. Bless him, so kind, as we certainly didn't have the energy to do the planting up!!!!!

Building the summerhouse

And so the building of the summerhouse began and thankfully our neighbour very kindly lent us his cement mixer for which we were extremely grateful as we knew we were in for a lot of hard "grunt" work!
This is Rob's first attempt at building an actual structural building with a roof on it and he did have some concerns regarding the tiling but decided to go for it and give it his best shot!
The design for the summerhouse is simply a full back wall with the two sides half walled to allow in light and air. The frontage will be open, having three pillars to support the roof. The pillars will be clad in pedra (stonand the walls will be rendered and painted. The floor will be tiled in rustic tiles and the roof will be tiled in traditional terracotta tiles.
Firstly we pegged out for the base, dug out the earth ready for the foundations for the pillars and laid them in concrete.
Build stages of summerhouse.

First blocks down for the three pillars

Sides and back

Decided to add on a flower bed to the side.

The next blog shows pictures of the concrete roof beams and tiles on.

Where can we get some shade??? Build a summerhouse !!!!

The beginning of March brought with it lots of warm sunshine, hotter than usual for the time of year (and very welcome it was after a cold spell in the winter) which made us realize that we now have very little shade from the hot summer sun. Last year we transformed the back garden from a jungle of weeds into a private relaxing garden which offered us no shade at all so we bought a wind sail for some shade which sorted that one out. We also made a small patio area with an hole to put in a big parasol in our front garden for relaxing but really we need somewhere to eat outside that would always be in the shade. There are certain times of the day in the height of summer when the sun is out on the veranda for most of the day which makes dining on there uncomfortable.
One of the loveliest features which we liked when we bought the house was the magnificent orange/lemon tree in the front garden which was huge and produced lovely fruit and, it also gave us a good amount of shade on the front garden at various times of the day. However what came with that was the daily task of picking up dropped fruits when in season and the mess from blossom and leaves, and finally last year the sparrows decided to descend on the tree and used it for nesting. No problem with that until the patio developed a carpet of bird droppings and no matter how many times it was swilled away the next day it was back and also the chorus at roosting time for 10 minutes was almost deafening! So after much debate it was decided the tree had to go!!! A couple of years ago the tree was well pruned back but all that did was to give it a new zest for life and once again it was getting well out of hand. It was obvious that the tree would be an ongoing problem for us so seeing as we didn't want to pay for a tree surgeon and we knew it was a very demanding task for ourselves to undertake but, as we do, we took it on with great precipitation and got stuck in. I must admit it was quite scary for Rob up on the ladder with a chainsaw and me at the footing the ladder wondering if I was going to be killed but we did manage to come out of it without any injuries other than aching limbs and without damaging the patio. It did provide us with a good amount of wood to burn on the fire but also left us with an enormous amount of branches and fruit which had to be wheelbarrowed down to the plot and burnt safely.
Picture showing orange and lemon tree in front of house (this was 18 months after it had been pruned back)

Rob trimming off with the pruners before tackling it with the chain saw.

It did in fact take quite a few attempts to cut down the tree as it was such hard work, it also too demanding for our chainsaw - snapped the pullchord and broke the chain, so now it has been repaired we need to ask someone with a more powerful chainsaw to cut the trunk down for us!!!!
The tree as it stands now

And so for our next project .............we decided to build ourselves a summerhouse with a roof to keep out the sun but with open walls and frontage for the light and air. Once finished we will be able to put up some curtain netting to protect us from the annoying flies and hopefully get some now peaceful rest out in the fresh air!
We have started this project and you will be able to read our progress on the next blog!

Charlie's Bar up and running !!!!!!!!!

Restoration of the wine cellar is now finished and waiting for friends and family to come and have a drink or two for no reasons other than having a sociable gathering!!!!

Our Adega isn't quite the same as a traditional Portuguese style Adega, but looks more like a quirky little "drinking den". We shall no doubt be grumbled at by our locals for not keeping the authentic character of a local traditional Adega, but they will always be welcome to come and have a "pinga pinga" (drink) with us.

Rob has used pedra (stone) on the walls to give it some character and rendered the in-between bits and painted them white. After digging out the earth and leveling out the floor he used the same pedra to cover the floor. The bench seat walls were made out of breeze blocks, filled in with rubble and the seats were made out of unpolished granite. The sandy stone we used to cover the breeze-block wall housing the original wine press was bought down in the Algarve and transported back home. This sandy coloured stone is very common on the Algarve but quite difficult and much more expensive to acquire in the central region. We have always liked this colour and thought it would contrast nicely with the colour of the traditional stone in our area.

Our previous blog shows pictures of these works being carried out and the next pictures show further progress being made to achieve it's final look. The previous blog shows how the cellar looked originally.