The Way It Was

Wow what a beautiful home you have..worth the effort eh? Lovely!

my word yes very much so - love the flowery garden part and all of it - great work !!!

How fantastically satisfying to do that - it all looks lovely!

Stunning - reminds me of an alpine chalet, but it looks fabulous with the plants out front as well. Good work...

Beautiful and I love the front garden.

I love seeing the before pictures that show how much work was involved in the after pictures. This is definitely a job well done.

that is absolutely gorgeous, what a dream-like house you have.

Wow - wonderful!

Just stunning,Nariz..and a credit to all your hard work..it must have been a labour of love,to have that goal in mind,and fulfill your dreams..and I love your garden..it is totally different from what I expected,given where you live..amazing ! :o)))

Lovely job. It's quite amazing what can be done. Lovely garden, it gives it the added charm to make it really apealing. It's lovely to old run down properties given new life. I find it very sad to see a run down properti or runes of houses love ago lived in. It makes me wonder what was the reason it was abandoned in the first place, I feel I need to know the history. You must be very happy wth the results. Enjoy.
Oh question; Did u use a lot of the old stone from the old bulding or is it all new?

You've got a lovely new house and a nice garden to go with it. It was a wise decision I think.

Thanks for your comments guys.
Angie, some of the stones were used, but not very much else was useable from the old house, except the roof tiles and some of the less worm-ridden old beams, which were chemically treated and used around the front door. Not much is ever wasted in this region, so all the old beams from the house became part of our firewood. We were lucky in that the architect and his English-speaking wife (thank goodness!!!) are friends of our neighbours and the talented builders are our neighbour's sons, so it was a recipe that could only go right!

Oh that's great to know that at least some of the old house became part of the new house. Great to hear nothing goes to waste over there. I get upset here when I see what goes in the bins.

What a beautiful garden you have. I love before and after pics - something fascinating about them, so I always read them.

The massive flower beds look great - very well done.

Such a beautiful house and garden ... does the balcony receive sun in the morning or evening, Nariz? . . . . .

Thanks Kildermorie.
You may be surprised at this, Shirley, it only receives sun in the morning, but by the evening, when we've finished working in the garden, had a shower and are looking for that rewarding G&T - that's when we appreciate the fact that it's in shade! I seem to spend most of the summer months looking for shady places to be in!

What a wonderful place you live in, Just perfect:)

That's my view too, Cmsue. :o)

beautifull nariz :o)

Sounds ideal to me ... and it's obvious the plants think so too! ... :o)

Wonderful gardens and house you must be delighted with what you have achieved.

Thanks Sanbaz, Shirley & DD2. :o)

Absolutely amazing. You must be so proud.

What a remarkable transformation, Nariz! I hadn't realized till now that the house you have now was built for you! I sort of assumed it was there when you arrived & that you had bought it!

The before & after photos are great as well. Like others have said above it so good to see before & after photos I'm always taking them!

Your garden looks fantastic & they must give you many hours of pleasure - when you can get out of the sun! LOL!

Thanks N3 & Balcony. Yes, we are proud of our lovely casa and so are our builders who occasionally bring prospective clients to the village to look at our house from all angles (except from inside). The interesting part for me is that Spanish people looking around are astonished at the garden! They seem to assume that I'm some kind of 'market gardener' or florist because of all the flowers. As you know, Balcony, flowers are generally kept to pelargoniums in pots on balconies or window cills and it's quite rare to see a large flower garden. Glad you all like my little bit of Paradise. :o)

You are quite right, Nariz, I used to do the same! I ought to make a blog one day with photos from some of my balconies from when I lived in Spain. Trouble is most photos need to be scanned into the computer as they are the old paper ones!

As most people live in blocks of flats they don't have gardens so it's no wonder that people stop to look at your garden!

I have just looked at these pics Janet - WOW that is amazing!! Very hard work!!
How long has it taken to get to the stage you are now?
Worth the haul tho' I'm sure. It all looks absolutely marvellous.
I haven't read all the above messages yet but I will later on when I have more time!
Just going to do my household shopping now! A job I hate!