Well, it’s been so long it’s hard to know where to start… The cottage room has been fantastic, we’ve been so busy, and everyone seems to love it. We’ve now installed bug screens, and a fridge and a toaster. people do ask if we plan for it to eventually end up self catering, I don’t think so, at the moment there are facilities for breakfasts and lunches and I just feel cooking in there would be too messy and leave smells. And when you can go to local restaurants and eat a three course meal with wine and coffee for 6.50euros per head… who needs to cook?
We are not providing meals at present, the kitchen and dining room are still in the throes of renovation, we have a lovely dining area and I actually have some (limited) beautiful new wooden worktop space and a sink… wooohee!
But again work has stopped for awhile as we need to work on a spare bedroom and en-suite which will connect to the downstairs plumbing and we need to save up some more money. We are collecting large pieces of slate as we plan to use that for the flooring in the kitchen as we are aiming for the ‘Rustica’ look. The bad news is the washing machine conked out so its back to the tank in the garden full time for a while, new appliances are low on our priority list.
We now have loads of steps up to the house from the car park to enable easy access for Pat’s dad, who will be visiting again in the Autumn. Rik kept his promise and prettied up some of the areas around the cottage, and built flowerbeds up the side of all the steps… very nice!
The main new thing for this summer has been the addition of our above ground pool!!! Yes a pool, it’s gorgeous, we figured it an investment as its bound to help with bookings… and we love it !! The surrounding area isn’t complete at the time of writing but should be soon, we plan a sun deck and outside kitchen, it should complement the seating area and covered area beautifully.
So, to the garden…
What a year … we practically fed ourselves from the garden and excess was stored in the freezer and fed us throughout the winter.
Good stuff was…. Beans, of every kind, Pat even pickled some runner beans to use them up…Tomatoes picked up in the end after we stopped overhead watering, leeks, peppers, peas, lettuce, corn, new spuds. Parsnips, squashes.
Not so good…. Onions… all went thick neck… and main crop spuds ..we don’t think the ground available to us for spuds is any good for them, two years we tried and nothing worth having… Never mind, we don’t eat that many anymore…
This summer we’ve expanded…
Pat has grown or is growing…Broad beans…. Were lovely. Runners, French beans mmmmmn lovely ,Dwarf green beans .
3 crops of peas !
Beetroot, lettuce, plum toms, salad toms and cherry toms, peppers, corn, onions, parsnips, Swedes, more cabbage than we ever thought possible, sprouting brocc. Leeks, Aubergines, pumpkins, butternut squash, cauliflowers and Brussels . plus loads of herbs.
All is going great guns this year and even the vines and olive trees are loaded. Last year we made our own wine, 170 litres , and hope for much more this time plus some more oil.
The dogs are both fine and happy, Cola is 7 years old now and Bonnie almost two.
We still have a lifetime of work here, but that's just the way we like it.
Things to do for the next year include, again trying to get to grips with all our trees , Keeping the areas around the house a bit tidier, hopefully completing the spare bedroom, and finishing off the kitchen.... but well.. we'll see. |
