Preparing for the Crete house

This is the view from the Crete house. Enough to lighten anyones heart.

In a few weeks time we will be going off to our house in Crete for a little break. We have been to visit twice whilst it is being built but this is the first time it is anything like inhabitable. The downstairs on one side will be finished. This is comprised of two bedrooms, a bathroom and a large sitting room and kitchen combined. Upstairs I have a big bedroom with a storage room inside and a bathroom, an even bigger balcony. I cant use upstairs even though it is almost finished as there are no stairs! Not the builders fault but beloved changed him mind half way through the build. My next year there should be another big downstairs room and two more bedrooms with another bathroom. Enough room for my whole family, us four plus mum and dad and my sister and her husband, to holiday together. We do gone on holiday all together quite often. We all get on really well and never fall out so this will suit us just fine.

We have lots of garden at the Crete house. 2000sq metres in total. My husband is planning the social area but I get to choose what we do with the rest. I will save a patch for vegetables but otherwise it will be mostly fruit trees,with a nice patio of grape vines. My mum is having an area of garden to cultivate too. I don't think she will be able to do much in the summer sun but when we visit out of season then she can enjoy herself. I wonder how many cuttings she can get into her luggage

My dad is rustling through the attic looking for old curtains and sheets to take with us. I am going through the utensil drawer picking out all the doubles of things (spare ladle anyone!)so that we have the beginnings of a household around us. We have bought a second hand gas cooker top and some pots and pans from someone who sold up and moved home again. Unfortunately there is not much of a second hand market in Crete so we must ships things from home or buy new. Neither of which is my favourite option. Beloved is quite handy so hopefully he can make quite a bit of what we want in furniture, assuming that wood is affordable. I don't know well enough the kinds of shops that we will need to frequent over the next year or so as we make this place our home.

On our plot there is an house, which we originally hoped to renovate but found that it is too dangerous. The bricks were home made and everything is sadly crumbling around us.


This is the oven in my old house


This is the kitchen.