Casa Neroli

All too soon it was time to set off back for the UK, It did seem very strange this time to be locking up and leaving, very different when it’s your own property against a rented place, but with the car loaded to the hilt with Oranges and Lemons, on the Saturday morning we set off.

The return journey was as successful as the outward journey, complemented by yet another smooth sea crossing, thank goodness.

All in all a great break and successful trip, I had also managed to strim nearly all the plot, with the exception of half the top terrace, “Never mind eh!” next time, maybe!

I think we will certainly be using this route again in the future.

Two things that really came to light during our visit this Easter was firstly that the old hut that we have been using for the past few years to store our things in was a bit of an eye sore and its was most definitely in the way of the view to Monsanto so it is going to have to go.

Secondly, the piece of land next to us was very much in our view from out of our bedroom window and whilst we felt sure that it was designated as “Rural” so it meant that it can’t be built on, with its size being 5000sqm (just over an acre) it was possible that it could happen. So as it was for sale the obvious thing to do was buy it!

We had seen the plot listed on the Remax site so know how much they were asking. In our opinion that was too much plus we know that it had been on the market at least since we had been there nearly 5 years and probably a lot longer.

We made tentative enquiries with Remax on the basis that we might be prepared to make an offer! Not actually saying that it was dependant on the price, but obviously the tone I made the enquiry was enough that they pre-empted a discussion with the current owners and were able to offer it at a price we felt acceptable. We are sure a local would pay a lot less, but it was worth it to us to protect our vista.

Well things have progressed well since our return to the UK and the “Promissory Contract” is in place and the deposit has been paid, which means to all intense and purposes that it’s a done deal it would cost the sellers too much to back out now.

We had a clause put in to say that the final exchange / completion that is done at the Notary must happen on one of three days in June when we next visit, so as not to incur additional costs. Worth remembering you can do things like this a lesson we learnt from our original purchase.

So hopefully all being well when we write about our June visit we should be able to let you know if everything went ok!

Well as expected with any new house we did find or see a number of issues over the 2 weeks that needed to be rectified, none were significant, but a couple did affect our enjoyment of the house, all of course will need to be fixed. I won’t list them all here as many are very small, the most significant was that the Shutter in our bedroom stopped working and the power tripped out a few times but always at the same time of day!

Both Marco and Paulo were brilliant in coming and meeting with us to review the issues and whilst we suspect it may take a fair time to get them resolved both were very accepting of the issues and agreed they need to be fixed. In fact Marco also pointed a couple of additional items as well. Time will tell how quickly these get resolved, but I suspect they will be done as the various trades are back on site for other things or of course we nag them!

We did also ask for budgets / quotes for a number of additional jobs.

1. Granite blocks for a drive from the garage to the road.
2. Fence down the side of the property
3. Improved landscaping and a larger pump house to accommodate swimming pool machinery.
4. Water irrigation system
5. Pruning the trees.
6. Possible additional work if we decide to buy the bit of land next door

We will have to stop soon, but to make it really nice it’s amazing just how much “other” work there is. Of course it could wait until later, but it would be nice to get it started now, funds allowing of course.

We had taking an air bed with us, so we had something to sleep on, but of course we needed to try and get some proper beds as soon as possible. We knew of the standard IKEA / JOM type stores that would have beds but we really thought we would like to support local business if possible. We asked Paulo and a few other people and were told about a local store in Fundao.

We set off early on the Tuesday and found the store. Like most Portuguese stores its presence on the street is not as open and welcoming as we think of UK stores, but once inside it was like an Aladdin’s cave, it was high and we were also invited to see the other store a short way up the street, which was also huge. The moral here is don’t be put off by the street presence; there are hidden gems inside.

Once in the store Phillip, who was Portuguese but spoke perfect English, greeted us. You can’t imagine the look of delight when we talked about 3 beds with all the trimmings, headboards etc and we also were looking at probably the most expensive types of mattress in the store, top of the range, pocket springs with memory foam. The one thing we had always said we would not skimp on the beds, it’s so important to do everything you can to ensure a good night’s sleep.

We didn’t buy straight away, but armed with the price we headed off around the other main stores in Fundao, Covilhã and Castelo Branco. At the end of the day, taking everything into consideration we ended up back with Philip and signed up. Unfortunately like the UK the beds have to come from a main warehouse and delivery was at least 16 days, so we had to arrange for them to be delivered on our next visit in June.

Although this meant we would have to spend the 2 weeks on the airbeds we were happy that we “should” have them for June and we had a good price and were supporting local business.

Of course travelling around looking at beds we also investigated a sofa bed for the living area, which will give us an additional double bed. We had seem a suitable sofa beds in IKEA but it was an IKEA, nothing wrong with that, but it would be a make do for what we really wanted and it would take us a day to get to the nearest IKEA and back so the fuel costs etc needed to be considered.

We called into a specialist out of town store, just outside of Fundao, called Chateau d’Ax and quickly found the ideal candidate, after testing, e.g. sitting and then converting into a bed and laying, we just knew this was the one, so next the price, um! Well amazing at it may seem, our luck was in and it was the last day of a 30% off offer. We did of course look around some more during the day but just couldn’t find anything better, so the draw of the 30% won and by the end of the day we had signed up. Delivery on this item would be 60 days, so similar to the UK if you order a 3-piece suite, but again time wise that should tie in nicely with our return in June.

So all in all an expensive but very satisfying day, let’s just hope they all deliver as promised. We will of course let you know in due course.

So at long last the Friday came and whilst Teresa went into work for a couple of hours in the morning, I spent the morning loading the car with all the comforts of home that we thought we would need, Airbed, sheets, pillows etc etc. We were all ready for the off around lunchtime so a quick brew of, yes you remember coffee and off we go.

We had already had an email from Brittany Ferries warning us that the ferry was going to be an hour late, but on arrival at Portsmouth Port we were advised of yet a further delay, so what should have been a 5:00pm sailing was now 7:30pm. Oh! Well never mind eh! There’s a Costa in the terminal building, so coffee time!

It was a tad boring, to say the least, waiting around for the ferry, but eventually we were loaded and found our way to our cabin, which was more than adequate for the crossing. So bags unloaded, it’s off to the bar! After several glasses of wine and a very late dinner, with yes more wine it was time for bed and yes we did sleep well. The next day we had a substantial breakfast and watched a film in the ferries video room. Eventually around 8:00pm we arrived in Santander, as we docked we could see the hotel we have booked in for, for the night, but actually getting to it proved to be a bit of a challenge.

The exit from the docks took us right out of Santander to the edge of the Motorway south, great that we knew where to head for in the morning, but didn’t help us finding our way to the hotel. So after heading out of town for 10 minutes we headed on a different road back into town for 10 minutes. Then because they have changed the road layouts in town, which the SatNav did not know about and the hotel, we later found was in an pedestrian area and there seemed to be some fiesta in progress with numerous lorry cabs and vans all lit up and sounding their horns, getting to the actual hotel proved to be a real challenge. Eventually we saw signs to a public car park very near the hotel, and after an aborted attempt to enter via the exit we managed to park and find out way to the hotel entrance.

The actual hotel, Hotel Bahía was very nice, and after a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast we set off south towards Portugal early the next morning, finding the way out was easy as after the previous nights exploits we knew the way!

The drive down was easy and in just over 6 hours we arrived in Covilhã, Portugal, where we had already arranged a night at the TRYP Covilha Dona Maria Hotel before we head to the house in the morning to meet with Paulo and Marco to get the keys and be introduced to our new house.

All in the entire route is a good one, very relaxing, as long as you forget the Santander Hotel episode. For the future its a good route as now we have the house we would head straight south on disembarking the ferry and head to the house, probably arriving in the early hours but would be fine after a relaxing crossing and no hotels as long as the sea is kind to us. So yes we will be going this way again.

If you have been reading this blog for a while now, you will be aware we tend to go to Portugal at Easter and have been trying out various routes. The most regular to date has been Newhaven to Dieppe, although we have tried Dover to Calais. Well this time we tried Portsmouth to Santander (Spain) so although it meant 24 hours on the ferry, it meant we could avoid France altogether and also all the motorway tolls as far as the Portugal border. Just hope that the seas are calm!

Usually this route is a lot more expensive and the crossing days are all wrong for us, but Brittany ferries started an economic service, which would sail out on a Saturday and was at least £100 cheaper than the standard service. So we took the decision to give it a go, as the overall cost seemed to work out about even when you consider no tolls and no overnight stay etc.

However, things did not quite run to plan, surprise, surprise. A week before we were due to go, there were frantic emails, texts and phone calls from Brittany Ferries as they had to cancel our outward crossing as there was a major problem with the ferry they were using and it had to go into dry dock for two months. The outcome was that we had to transfer to the Friday night crossing on the normal ferry. This had some advantage in terms in the facilities on the ferry, but meant we had to quickly organise extra days off work and an additional hotel for on the way down, as we weren’t picking up the keys for the new house until the Monday.

On the up side, we were getting the better ferry at no additional cost and as compensation we got 20% of our next crossing and of course an extra on our holiday, so there was some benefit.

So the plan was now, that we would travel to Portsmouth on the Friday, the crossing would take about 24 hours, so we would get to Santander in Spain on the Saturday evening, hopefully around tea-time, so we booked a hotel in Santander right on the dockside for the Saturday night. The plan was then to drive down to Covilhã in Portugal on the Sunday, which was about 25 minutes from our house. According to Google this should take about 6 hours so allowing for stops let’s say 7 hours so quite a leisurely day.

We had already arranged with Paulo, the Architect and Marco, the builder, to meet them at the house on the Monday at 9:30a.m, so didn’t really want to change that plan, as hard as it would be not to go to the house on the Sunday, we decided that we would be more alert and on the ball, having a good night’s sleep after a 7 hour drive.

So the plan was set.