We bought 2 caravans to live in while the house was rebuilt and renovated.
It would only be 3/6 months and we'd be in.....
Our 2 teenage sons lived in the 2 bedroom one on the left.
My husband,me and our 11 year old daughter lived in the 3 bedroom caravan on the right.With the dogs.
We had plenty of room and we made them homely.It was only temporary...
In the beginning we made a lot of expensive mistakes like buying 500 euro mobile air con units when a 20 euro fan worked far better!
Work on the house was well underway.
Friends visited and we got to know the area and our neighbours were really friendly and helpful.
Our daughter was enrollled in the local school.
Ian made a temporary (!) scaffold tower with a water tank on top and our water was gravity/pump fed.
My husband,me and our 11 year old daughter lived in the 3 bedroom caravan on the right.With the dogs.
We had plenty of room and we made them homely.It was only temporary...
In the beginning we made a lot of expensive mistakes like buying 500 euro mobile air con units when a 20 euro fan worked far better!
Work on the house was well underway.
Friends visited and we got to know the area and our neighbours were really friendly and helpful.
Our daughter was enrollled in the local school.
Ian made a temporary (!) scaffold tower with a water tank on top and our water was gravity/pump fed.
We ran a generator for 5/6 hours a night for lights, music,showers and eventually tv as there was a lot of sport being missed!!
Just over 2 months into the build we had an official visit..2 police cars arrived and social services.
Armed police!! Yes we panicked a bit !!
We were told in no uncertain terms to stop all building works.We needed permissions for everything.
We had been very naive and trusted our estate agent and the local architects.They had told us as long as we stayed within the footprint of the house we could rebuild and renovate what we liked.Apparently this wasnt true.They took photos and measurements of all the work we had done.It was very intimidating having about 6 armed police making their presence felt.
The social services wanted to know about our 2 sons and our daughter.We had to prove the boys were 16 and had left school.We had to prove our daughter was enrolled in school.
So the paperwork trail began...
What with one thing and another mainly bureaucracy (which is the same in any country.But made harder here because our daughter wasnt learning the language fast enough..just kidding!!) work on the house ground to a halt.Things were obviously becoming not so temporary any more..
Armed police!! Yes we panicked a bit !!
We were told in no uncertain terms to stop all building works.We needed permissions for everything.
We had been very naive and trusted our estate agent and the local architects.They had told us as long as we stayed within the footprint of the house we could rebuild and renovate what we liked.Apparently this wasnt true.They took photos and measurements of all the work we had done.It was very intimidating having about 6 armed police making their presence felt.
The social services wanted to know about our 2 sons and our daughter.We had to prove the boys were 16 and had left school.We had to prove our daughter was enrolled in school.
So the paperwork trail began...
What with one thing and another mainly bureaucracy (which is the same in any country.But made harder here because our daughter wasnt learning the language fast enough..just kidding!!) work on the house ground to a halt.Things were obviously becoming not so temporary any more..
You make it sound idyllic !!
ReplyDeleteIn some ways it was haha.
ReplyDeleteA caravan is less maintenance and less housework!!!
That's true no concrete or plaster dust !
DeleteIt looks very cozy/homey - and so nice to be able to be outdoors so much!
ReplyDeleteBureaucracy can be a nightmare . Jobsworth rather see a derelict building !!
ReplyDelete