One of my pet fantasies is renovating an old country house off in Galicia or somewhere. (We've spent the last 4 years working on a 1927 Chicago bungalow.) I've googled for blogs but come up empty for Spain, though it seems popular in France and, of course, the US. There was one, Spanishhouse or something, but it's been taken down.

Anyone ever undertaken such a thing or know someone who has? Any sources you can point me to online or otherwise?

Thanks!

:
Hi,

I have never fixed anything up! However, the book "no going back" by Martin Kirby is about an English family that buys and fixes up an old and gorgeous house in Catalonia. I also have another book called "mañana, mañana" about an English family living in Majorca. I thing there are two books...can't find it, haven't read it yet...so when I find it I'll add the author.

What's getting "hot" in Spain is the buying and fixing up of old rural homes to use a small hotels or bed and breakfasts. They are called "casas rurales" or "turismo rural" perhaps you can find a some leads that way.

Let us know how it goes...

Not many total bargains like described in the "no going back" book out there anymore..

Hi Coco We have been attempting to stop our old Canarian farmhouse from falling down around our ears for the past 11 years!! It is an ongoing nightmare I can tell you, unless you have a huge amount of cash (which I don´t)!! One of my fantasies has been to have the whole outside of the house painted the same colour at the same time, and it´s not happened yet! It would probably have been easier if we had bought a ruin to renovate rather than one of the oldest houses on the island and tried to maintain it! The rules and regs for old buildings here are ridiculous, especially if we were thinking of rural tourism. The house is on the market now, fancy buying it!!!!

Well, I suppose that's why it's a fantasy.

I was thinking of something like thisstone cottage(Hope that link works). I suppose I took "Under the Tuscan Sun" too much to heart.

As for opening a B&B - I'm too antisocial. I just want to hunker down and drink local wine in front of the fire with my sweetie.

Thanks for setting me straight.

Hey madsue, i think you should try a slightly different way to market that house if you actually do want to sell it. Not that yours is the "wrong" approach, but saying that that you've been trying to keep the house from "falling down around our ears" may not be appealing to some people.

coco, my boyfriend's mom lives in a very old farmhouse in catalunya and we are helping her to fix it up now. It is a lot of work, but it is not impossible. There are a lot of places for sale in her town that also need a lot of work. The only problem is you really need to be in Catalunya to find out about them. Most of the places are being sold by a small independant real estate agency. They don't have a web address, but they do put out a publication that I can pick up for you and send it. The town is in the mountains of Catalunya, about an hour and half outside of Barcelona and it is really beautiful. The houses that are sold are really cheap, but you need to be good with your hands or have a lot of money to invest in the renovation. I'll get some more info from my boyfriend and post it soon.

Good luck!

Yes I quite agree Definitely not the way to try sell my house!! You never know though, it might just intrigue people, though I doubt there are many mm members who just happen to hanker after an old house in Lanzarote!!!

It was really just to confirm to Coco that it is not such a romantic thing to do!!!!

madsue...i still fantasy about your fantastic house!! of course, it is not mine, so i am free from all the problems. but oh i loved your massive kitchen with the recycled wood counters. and the many little terraces. and taking the sun out by the pool. and walking under the stars to reach the bedrooms. oh, not to mention your stone-floored, soaring ceiling bedroom with that cushy window seat.....

and on another note, our very own steve savage renovated a pile of rubble (um...a charming cottage) in almeria. i'm sure he has a bit to say about the process. .... oh, and by the way, if you need some handy work done, steve is amazing. i hired him to fix a laundry list of problems in my piso. he showed up four days in a row at 9 on the dot, and did the work beautifully. watch out chapuzas....

Philly - thanks for the generous offer. We're hoping to make the permanent move to Madrid come next August or so, so we'll be able to do some research "in the field". Catalunya makes me nervous just because of the language - I have my hands full with castellano. Do you think it would be a problem?

Madsue - your house sounds lovely! At least there's lots to enjoy while it's still standing. I've never been to Lanzarote - sounds divine.

Hoping that Steve puts in his two cents. We've decided we like the DIY thing - keeps us out of trouble at weekends. I don't think I could face rebuilding centuries-old stone walls or roofs though.

hey Coco.

Steve is in ;isbon for his birthday. i will call his attention to this thread when he returns if he does not see it himself first.

saludos,
jer...

Thanks for your lovely comments about my house Candy I must admit, I adore it too, and am planning on building a new one in this old style on the ground next door! When this has sold of course!

Perhaps some more mm'ers would like to visit soon and we could have a house building party!!!

Aw shucks Candy, thanks for your kind words. It's great to be back in Madrid. Man does Lisbon suck or what?

Anyway... Coco, you may find my little adventure in Almeria interesting. I was deposited at an abandoned stone farmhouse by its owners, and left there in the middle of almost nowhere to spend a month renovating it. The house had no furniture, no running water, no bath, no shower, no sink, no kitchen, nothing. No floors in some rooms; just dirt and rubble. No windows in one room; it was like a cave. The two English guys who owned it handed me a fistful of cash, and took off down the road in a cloud of dust yelling "We'll send our business partner over in a month with some more cash!"

If you go to http://www.thesavagefiles.com/notsosavage.htm and follow the link to "Casa Del Sangria", you'll see before and after photos and also a bit of chat about the job.

Another big job I did was on a huge and really old farmhouse in southern France (some parts of the house over 500 years old) The owners- again Brits but this time owner occupiers as opposed to developers- had bought the house with the plan of totally renovating it in two years. That was five years ago, and when I arrived on the scene there were still eight rooms that were effectively unusable because of rotten floors and ceilings.

There's a few pics from that job at http://www.thesavagefiles.com/france.htm and http://www.thesavagefiles.com/france2.htm

As far as books go, I have enjoyed "Driving Over Lemons" by Chris Stewart, and am about to start on his sequel, "A Parrot in the Pepper Tree". Also, "Spanish Lessons" by Derek Lambert, and one that might be a little more difficult to find, "A Foreign Affair" by Shaun Briley. I've also seen reviews of a (new?) book called "A Castle in Spain".

And as for websites, if you're looking for websites with ruins for sale.... there are many! Do a search for any combination of the following words... finca, ruin, farmhouse, spain, real estate, rural. From memory, one of the most comprehensive sites is http://www.fotocasa.es There are some amazing bargains to be had in the isolated parts of southern and western Spain, but of course there are no job opportunities there so you need to have some sort of income or not need an income. Unfortunately for the rest of us poor slobs, any rural properties within commuting distance the big cities are commanding very high prices... for obvious reasons.

Coco, if you ever achieve your dream of buying a ruin, and you need someone who can swing a hammer, I'd be happy to be involved.

Meanwhile, if anyone needs some renovations on their ruined or not so ruined abode, I'm available to give free, no-obligation quotes. Wendy's formerly pink and yellow palace has come up a treat- even if do say so myself. I have a few more bits and pieces to do there, and a couple of other small jobs thanks to MM board members. BUt there are still three weeks till Maria and I jet off to Australia, and I'd rather fill that time with something constructive rather than sitting around getting excited about my upcoming return to Australia after two and a half years away.

Oh, and one last point... if anyone in Madrid has marble floors that aren't looking their best, I will be hiring a floor polishing machine to do Wendy's place, and can offer you this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to split the cost of the machine hire if you get in quick.

That's it from me,

Steve

Driving Over Lemons has been ordered from Amazon.

Can I ask why all the stone walls in the French House are being covered with what looks like drywall and steel studs? Exposed brick and stone is so popular here - is there a practical reason? Additional insulation? Love those beamed ceilings.

Also impressive dry stack walls and terracing in the Sangria house! Looks like you were really roughing it there for a while.

How much, more or less, is a fistful of cash? Do you give estimates per job, or is it more common to charge an hourly rate?

Thanks everyone for your insights! "Desde Galicia para El Mundo" made me cry yesterday the villages were so beautiful.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Coco:
Can I ask why all the stone walls in the French House are being covered with what looks like drywall and steel studs? Exposed brick and stone is so popular here - is there a practical reason? Additional insulation?

Good question. The owner said that although he generally liked the 'rustic' look, he didn't think it was suitable for bedrooms. Too dusty, too many spiders and ants making themselves at home in the walls, and yes, potentially a little draughty. I must admit that although I initially disagreed with him, the results speak for themselves.

Depending on the job, I either work by the hour or by quote. Personally, I prefer to give a quote and then work my own hours, at my own pace.

Oh... 'a fistful of cash' is as much cash as you can fit in your fist