Casita del Río..the story so far.

CASITA DEL RÍO... (Small house on the river)

The story so far...

In 2017, while at a wine show in Melbourne, one of the wine merchants told us about the Ribeira Sacra region of Galicia in North Western Spain. He pulled out his phone and showed us incredible photos on of the steep hillside valleys of the Sil and Miño rivers covered with grapevines. It was a stunning landscape and completely different to the relatively barren wine areas like La Rioja and Ribera Del Duero we were used to. It was an instant attraction and we had to go there ASAP and started planning a trip for September. While researching the area, I discovered a website run by an English ex pat specialising in rustic properties for sale in Galicia and noticed a little place high on the hillside (450mtrs) overlooking the the Miño near the town of A Barrela.

The 2 bedroom stone cottage had been extensively renovated and up until a few years ago, it has been run as a bar (A Taberna) with patrons being able to enjoy the incredible view of the river valley from the expansive deck. At only 59k €, it seemed like a steal so I got in contact with Mark the agent to get some more info and photos. 

At this point, Wendy knew nothing about all this! 

Fast forward to September 2017, we're back in Spain but this time in Galicia. True to the wine guys photos, the area is stunning. Lush green hills and valleys, winding roads and vineyards right down to the waters edge. They call it Heroic Viticulture in these parts as the vines are grown on terraced ledges built by hand, some dating back to Roman times.

By now I'd told Wends about the place and showed her a few photos. She was luke warm. "We're not buying a place in Spain!" Undeterred I suggested we at least do a drive by and check it out..to which she reluctantly agreed.."It's 40 minutes out of way!", she says. "We've just driven 5 hrs from Madrid," I say. "OK, fine" she says. 

So on a perfect sunny day we arrive at the place after passing through a gorgeous little village (Castro) on the way. The impression was instant. "How much is this again?" Wendy asks.

First visit, Sept 2017

                                      

The rest is history!

We signed the contract a few months later after agreeing to the terms of the sale. In Spain, a very common purchase method is a kind of "rent to buy" scheme where a deposit is paid (10-12%) then a fixed amount is paid monthly for 5 years (300 €  in our case) with the balance to be paid after 5 years. 

June 2018

On June 23rd we arrived at the Casita to meet the previous owner, Maribel and her husband Jose Antonio for the handing over of the keys. In the back of the hire car was a suitcase full of tools that we'd brought from Australia. A month of hard work was about to commence. Later that day, Antonio from further up the hill behind the Casita came and introduced himself bearing wine, homegrown cherries and walnuts.

                                                    José Antonio and Maribel 

Although Maribel had spent a lot of money on the place in recent years (new septic tanks, rewired, new roof etc) because the place had been run as a bar, there was no functioning kitchen as such. The first step was to completely gut the bar area and figure out how to get a kitchen to work with uneven floors and 200 year old stone walls. We decided to get the stone walls pointed and the floor fixed by some local tradies that Maribel put us on to. While they worked away downstairs, Wendy was upstairs cleaning the wooden floors for a coat of lacquer and I was downstairs turning the wine glass shelving rack that used to hang from the roof in the bar into a kitchen bench. Appliances (washing machine, new elec HWS, microwave, fold down sofa beds etc) were ordered on line and being delivered.

Appliances delivered!

A week into the trip, our good friend from Heathcote, Eugene turned up on his way to Ireland via Morocco and helped rip up the old timber decking that had pretty much all rotted away. A week later, the old boards were off, the subframe levelled and sealed with a mixture of sump oil and diesel ready for the 34m2 of new decking that arrived a few days later. As Wends painted sealer on both sides of the  90 boards, I started laying them. A few days and 1500 screws later, the new deck was done.

 
    Eugene working on the deck.                                      Finished deck with new railing 

Despite the long hours of hard labour, we did manage a few side trips to Ournese or Monforte de Lemos for Tapas and supplies (more wine) as well as a Catamaran trip on the Miño river, lunch at Playa a Cova which is a "beach"on the river. Every Saturday night we were invited for dinner at all our various new neighbours places where homemade wine and home cooked local food was enjoyed well onto the early hours.

                                          Playa de A Cova

 

After 4 weeks at Casita del Río we managed to achieve more than we had expected and have pretty much got the place ready for visitors. The plan is to spend 6 to 8 weeks there each year and rent it out to friends at other times as well as Air B&B etc.

Neighbours Marie Carmen, Leno, José, Antonio


Directions to the Casita.

The house is located in a small hamlet called A Voutureira, about 15mins from A Barrela. The best way to get there is to take a train from Madrid to Ourense (5 hrs). It's then a 40 min car trip from there up to the house. Alternatively, fly into Santiago de Compostela and hire a car from there.

The details and google map reference is:

Casita del Rio

27532 Carballedo, Lugo, Spain

0417 178 658

https://goo.gl/maps/E9Ui7xd5SgF2

Looking forward to seeing you there! Adios.