So we've done it...we've moved into the new house!

The porters arrived the other day at about 0715am and took our bed and the sofa...they had to practically tip me out of bed as I was still in it.

Although the work on the house is not quite finished yet, we decided to start living in just one place rather than divided between 2 which was getting complicated, and with Carlo staying up to work until gone midnight and me having to wait up to get him dinner when he got back, it was just easier to all move up there and camp out.

I. AM. LOVING. IT!

We've got no internet connection...although we do have one of those dongle thingys but I haven't a clue where it is so I have to find wifi spots during the daytime.

I have a whole pile of Ikea furniture to put together, mountains of clothes all over the place (who knew we had so much stuff?)

I have taken to doing the weekly shopping with a giant rucksack, as it is easier to carry down the steps.

The cats took the move fairly well...Tiger loves the garden and explores a bit every day. Lily, however is a big old scaredy cat and takes about 5 steps outside then runs back in and hides under the sofa.

We're having a mini heatwave and the garden is suddenly green and full of flowers. Last night at 1030pm I found myself halfway up a plum tree with Carlo rigging up some fairy lights. I haven't climbed a tree in years!

I've hung up my heels for now!

Eggs

Every year for Easter each delicatessen and bar in town sells Easter Egg Raffle Tickets. Now, I don't know how many people actually buy tickets for these raffles, it must be quite a lot, but the weird thing is that Nonna wins eggs every year without fail. You would think it was fixed, but it's not, it's just pure chance. So this morning I got a call from Nonna asking if I could stop at the bar on my way up before lunch to pick up the egg that she had one, and then to stop at the deli to pick up the other. "No problem!" I said, not realising that the smaller egg was 5 kilos and the bigger one was 10 kilos of chocolate...I can carry 15 kilos, but not when it is giant egg shaped, so I called for reinforcements. So, I guess that means there's no need to buy any more Easter Eggs this year. By the way, there was also a 30 kilo Easter Egg in the deli which someone else (thank God) had won. You could have easily hidden 4 children inside it!

chairs

I couldn't resist painting something so I sneaked the 6  dark wood dining chairs up to an empty room and started transforming them. I used Annie Sloans chalk paint which requires no sanding or priming. Now, this concept is very against what the Italian men have been taught about painting and I tried to argue it with them, promising it would work but up until now they don't believe that the paint will stick. All I can say is that I have faith in the numerous reviews I read about this paint and I hope it bloody well sticks or I'm going to have a lot of work to do to remedy the situation...

because I got slightly carried away... I've always wanted different coloured dining chairs and ended up mixing various shades and applying them to each chair. I've done 5 and run out of paint (I only had 2 colour tester pots and one litre of 'old white', so now am waiting for a shipment which has proved complicated as the only supplier in Italy has nothing in stock and is outrageously overpriced so it worked out cheaper to get them sent from the UK.

Meanwhile, a certain young lady found her way up to what will be her sleeping platform/ mezzanine bedroom and with a carpenters pencil proceeded to map out where EVERYTHING will be going. I know it's hard to see, but that's her in her bed, cat on the other pillow, slippers on rug at side of bed and bedside table with lamp and phone charging, all life sized on the floor!

On my way back down into town today I finally spotted the first signs of spring....Then it started raining again.

steel beams

Everyone has to pull their weight carrying stuff up and down the steps!

The serious work is well under way. As the house has only one bedroom we needed to create another, or at least a place for Skye to sleep ad have her own space. Luckily the ceilings are fairly high so we decided to make a mezzanine level above the living area. Here we are putting up the first steel beams:

Can you see that strange area behind me? We'll come back to that!

The support beams were up and soldered in a day. I was surprised how quickly we got it done. We had spent a couple of weeks planning, measuring and deciding where to put the platform and how to get up to it (and back down without falling off ladders or steep steps.)

Finally the beams were covered by large sheets of wood on top and underneath, then with a layer of stucco. I measured six equal points on the new lower ceiling where we will put light fittings. Obviously that huge hanging lamp will go!
Peppe came along to start sanding down the doors ready to be painted and I got stuck into sanding all the kitchen cupboards. I hate sanding. But I must admit, there is nothing better than a hot shower after a day of sanding and being so covered in dust that you turn grey!

Last night we installed the staircase. Unfortunately the carpenter made a mistake and made it one step too short (as you can see in the photo) so there was a lot of swearing while Carlo figured out how to attach it to the top of the platform and add an extra step. By 2130pm though we had a fully functioning safe staircase!

It went down to 3˚c in the valley last night. So cold for mid March in south Italy! I really hope the heating will work as promised. It should be installed sometime this week.
So, that funny area behind me in the second photo? There is a door in the living room, just at the bottom of the new staircase that leads to nowhere...or as I prefer to call it 'the cave'. I think that originally there were plans for another room there which never happened, so it was left like this. AND...the other day Carlo found a little bat hanging from the ceiling...So, we have our very own BAT CAVE in our house, which I think is hysterical. I can't wait to do house tours..."here's the kitchen, living room, Skyes room , and the bat cave!"

First signs of spring? I hope so!

Pietro rabbits garden

Not much to report yet. We're still in the stage of knocking holes in walls, doing things with steel rods, making lots of mess and making major decisions about where things will go. I was sent off to the hardware store today with a long list of odd things: various paints and primers, 5 metres of sandpaper, 40 metres of nautical rope (all will be explained) and I quote "enough lana-roccia (rock-wool which I presume is what we call insulation) to insulate a fireplace.

 Me, lugging all the paint and lunch down the steps.

So of course I ended up having one of those impossibly stupid conversations in the hardware store that went a bit like this:

'Hello, I need some rock wool to insulate a fireplace please.'
"OK, we've got that, how much do you need?"
'Er, enough to insulate a fireplace?'
"Oh...well...I don't know how much that would be..."
'Well, nor do I! If I could just borrow your phone, you see I've left mine at home, I could call and ask how much they need...please?'
"The phone? Well, if you're calling a landline yes, but not if you want to call a mobile phone..."
'Oh, well, there's no landline to call, can't we just guess how much rock wool is needed to insulate a fireplace"
"No, you better come back another time."

I finally found a phone and called Carlo:
'How much rock wool do you need?'
"Enough to insulate a fireplace."
'No, that's not good enough, they need a measurement!'
"Well, I don't know , can't they guess?'
'No, they can't! Can't you guess?'
"No I can't, oh just forget about it , I'll go and get it myself.'

So I wisely shut my mouth and went off to do something else.

I climbed up onto the roof (as you do) and took a photo of the back garden. The weather has been awful lately, very foggy for the last few days so excuse the greyness. But look at all that space! Can you see the cabbages all lined up in a row?

Suddenly I felt very Beatrix Pottery and went to have a closer look at what was growing: I found cabbages, loads of lemons, broccoli, fennel, lettuces of various types, round things that I can't identify, potatoes and fava beans, onions and oranges. Wow!

Back to the house. I know I've been very mean and not shown many before photos So here is/was the kitchen:

I can't wait to get the paintbrushes out, but I'm not allowed until the messy dust-creating work has been finished. The sewing tables have already gone, I've started sanding the cupboards down but now it's all under dust sheets so I'll have to wait a while.

So that's the old kitchen, can you see the potential?

Meeting the neighbours

As we walked down to the house (we need to come up with a name, I don't like calling it 'the house') some of the neighbours appeared to say hello. Skye was delighted and spent the next few hours trying to creep up as close as possible to them.

I present to you the official Living Room BEFORE Photo. Please notice the fireplace in the corner...

Which now doesn't exist anymore... Please don't be disheartened by the copious amount of dark wooden items in the above photo. Think of the POTENTIAL!  I will be doing something about it!

We took a break outside and made a village idiot seesaw, which consisted of a plank of wood, 2 bricks and a gas canister. Not the brightest of ideas. Oh, and this is part of the terrace out front. I think it will scrub up nicely with some fairy lights, plants and some swish garden furniture, don't you?

After sandwiches on the terrace I got the hint that Important Mens Work was taking place, there was nothing that I could do to help, the sanding that I had been doing would have to wait as I would be in the way and us females would be better off finding something else to do. We did sneak in to watch a bit of sparkly welding but were told off and sent away again, so we had a little wander down the path to see if there were any more interesting neighbors and came across this friendly couple, out for a walk together.

We sat here for a while, absorbing the sun, surrounded by olive trees and not another human in sight.  So peaceful and pleasant on the eye. I think I can live with this.

The first voyages

So we've got a lot of work to do. And a lot of steps to negotiate. Today we actually BEGAN doing something. Our pellet stove arrived  and had to be taken down to the house. I'll show you how it got there in a bit. First of all I'll show you the steps:

The first part is quite residential but there's a lovely view of the sea every now and then.

 Then you turn a corner and come into olive grove land. Sometimes there are sheep grazing on the grass and little dogs that accompany you down a few more steps. Eventually you get to the house and I still can't get over how much space it has! Highly appreciated after 12 years without even a balcony, let alone surround-sound gardens and a terrace for entertaining!

The gardens grow every type of fruit and vegetable possible in this corner of the world, tended to lovingly by BIL and FIL. And we're allowed to help ourselves!! In the winter there are oranges, lemons, broccoli of every type, cauliflower, potatos, lettuces, fennel...and that's just what I've noticed looking around..

Anyway, back to business. This little contraption below is called a carrello. It will be our best friend on these journeys up and down the steps as it can take very heavy loads and climb steps with them. There is a lot of stuff to bring down to the house: building materials, paint, tools, wood, iron beams etc, but there is also a lot (way more than you can imagine) of stuff that needs to be taken away from the house: old washing machine parts, broken furniture, dead fridge, old toys and clothes, general other people stuff.

Here is the carrello fully loaded:  All stuff to throw away. I went up ahead loaded with an old baby walker and a very ancient travel cot. I came back down with some big metal tubes...I have no idea what they are for, but hey, I'm just the pack horse.

As I write this (back down in our current home) Carlo is taking a sledgehammer to the old fireplace, knocking it down and no doubt making a lot of rubble...which, oh dear, will probably have to go up too.

Of course we're very excited and want to do it all NOW and AT ONCE and SUBITO and move in  (and stop paying rent) but it's going to take a while and we'll have to tackle things one at a time and in the right order. I'm straining at the bit to give everything a lick of paint but will have to be patient for now.

You want to see the house don't you? Ok, just from outside for now. It's all a bit sad and wintery looking at the moment, but I've seen it in the summer and it is alive with flowers and very pretty.
We're the ground floor, BIL owns the second level but doesn't live there.

moving..

So after 12 years of renting in the centre of town we have decided to stop throwing our money away in a black hole and move house. It is something we have talked about FOREVER, but we've never been sure whether we could commit to it.

Let me explain:

Carlo actually has his own house. It has been mostly unused for the last few years and needs some work done inside....nothing we can't handle.
The drawback? The reason it has been empty for so long?
That would be the 465 steps down from the road to the house.
Yes, I said four hundred and sixty five steps....

The house (which Carlo and his family built with their own hands) is set down in a valley in the mountainside above Positano. It takes 6 minutes to walk down to the house and 10 minutes to get up to the road....as you walk up you feel like you are dying until about a 3rd of the way when you get your second wind. We never though we would want the hassle of the steps.

But, for some reason we have changed our minds... Maybe we were inspired by the friends we visited in Cornwall, living in a remote farmhouse 15 minutes drive from anywhere. Or the friends building a log cabin  in a field. Maybe we were inspired by other friends who left Italy to buy and renovate a house and vineyard on the other side of the world. It doesn't really matter how we were inspired but suddenly it is all we want to do.

It will be ours...we can do what we want to it and I've been given carte blanche to decorate however I want! We're starting with the biggies of course. The other day we went there to look around, it was only about 7˚c outside but it was even less inside and we ended up sitting outside to eat lunch. So we're installing a heating system, a hydro pellet stove....which weighs about 200 kilos, so just imagine getting that down 465 steps!

So I'm going to blog my way through our adventures as we try and make our dream home in a valley above the sea. I'll probably ask for opinions every now and then...I hope you enjoy the ride!

This is the view from the house (on a rainy day):

road trip 5

After leaving Bigbury beach in Devon we drove up to Weymouth and stopped for the night. I called my uncle to let him know we wouldn't be passing by again and he gave us a few ideas of what to do the next day. So first thing in the morning we drove over to Portland:

Portland is an island, but connected to the mainland by a huge sandy beach. A lot of London (and other cities ) were build using Portland Stone and it was one of the old quarries that we were heading for.

This old quarry at teh top of the island is now used by artists who want to practise sculpturing. The more you walk around and look, more faces, animals and carvings appear in the rocks around you.

This was the view from the  top:

Then we drove to West Lulworth to see part of Dorsets Jurassic Coast. Durdle Door is a huge arch in a cliff by the beach (where Nanny Mcphee took the kids for a picnic in the first film). As it had rained so much lately the steps down to the beach had been completely washed away in a landslide so we could only walk along the clifftops.

We walked along for a while until we came to that really steep bit in the photo above and decided to cut through a field and back to the car. We were very amused to learn that the field we were in was called 'Scratchy Bottom.

And with that we were almost done. We stopped off in Lulworth Cove, a perfectly round natural harbour where we found a pub with the best food ever, stuffed ourselves silly and drove back home. My conclusion is: I'm glad that a few months ago we decided to GET UP AND DO THINGS rather than be lazy at home. So far we've done loads of fun stuff, met up with friends and relatives we wouldn't have seen otherwise and now we're actually talking about the possibility of getting a VW campervan!

road trip 4

New Years Day 2013! My brother had to head back to London so we said goodbye and decided to drive over to Newquay, surf capital of Cornwall and maybe even the whole of the UK...Except for some reason when we arrived there were no surfers to be seen on any of the beaches. Maybe because it was so windy?

We walked along the seafront and down onto a sandy beach with a few little caves , very handy for having a quick wee as the public bathrooms were closed for winter! TMI? Sorry...

Lots of stripey rocks with holes in:

So anyway we ended up having a blazing row on the way to Newquay about whether life would be better if we upped and moved to Cornwall (my idea) or if we stayed put in Positano (his idea). Stalemate was declared and we decided it was best not to mention it again...so back to Positano it will be...for now!
To avoid arguing again I thought is would be best to be with some other people so wee arranged to meet some more friends on Bigbury Beach in Devon. We arrived just before sunset and the kids set off to explore the caves:

 I finally spotted a few surfers...(Just wanted to prove to Carlo that us English don't let a bit of cold water stop us from having fun).

 We all go into a cave to see if there really is a skeleton after the kids came running out screaming their heads off. There wasn't.

 Rock climbing..

 Don't you just love walking along a beachfront at sunset?

 When the sun went down it suddenly felt cold so we headed back to the cafe in the car park for hot chips and tofu burgers. We were invited to dinner at an Indian restaurant but Carlos look of horror quickly stopped that plan. (I have yet to find an Italian who will willingly eat Indian food). So we said goodbye and headed on our way..