Yes, we are edging closer and closer to having the house fully renovated, with the completion of the renovation of the second guest room. This room, on the top floor, currently looks out over the village and has a great view down onto the piece of land, with a tiny little abandoned house, which we […]
Summer in Istria is pretty amazing. Once it takes hold, we’re almost guaranteed five months of blue skies, sunshine and hot temperatures. It’s now October, and although the temperatures have definitely fallen, it’s still pretty balmy – currently in the low-mid 20s. As in, what we would have called a “good summer’s day” back in […]
Restaurant choices in Istria are huge. Even the tiniest hamlet will usually boast a konoba, serving food of an excellent quality. If you love pasta, gnocchi, stews and truffles, then Istria is definitely for you, as these do form the staples of many restaurant menus. I think it’s also fair to say that quite a […]
What a treat, a day and night away at Hotel Navis, in Opatija, is. Built into a cliff-face, and with all rooms overlooking the sea, it is situated between Rijeka and Volosko, on Preluk Bay – and for us, not too far away from our home in Istria. We spotted the hotel on one of […]
As well as family and friends coming out to visit us in Istria, we now have the opportunity to meet up with people who come to Croatia on holiday. We still find this very exciting as we get the best of both worlds – entertaining and travelling. Good friends from Didsbury were returning to Croatia, […]
Our second and third WorkAway visits have just come to an end. We are delighted to report that our second visitors – a couple from Tasmania, who are travelling and working their work around the world – were another massive success. Like we said we preferred, they were a couple, they were independent, resourceful, creative, […]
Ipša, in their own words, is …a family estate which has been producing extra virgin olive oil and wine for many years…situated in Ipši, a small hamlet surrounded by olive groves in the vicinity of Oprtlaj, a picturesque medieval village in north western Istria… We’re very lucky to live somewhere so close to somewhere that […]
Renovating a property can be very expensive. Even though things out here are often less expensive than back in the UK, we don’t have a bottomless money pit and so sometimes, rather than splashing the cash, we look for alternatives. And, currently, spray paint is proving to be worth its weight in gold. Quite literally… […]
When we moved in, the kitchen seemed quite a cold room. Which seemed odd, because even though there was only one window to the side, it was a light room. The walls were white (and this was the only room that had actually been decorated) and the units were pretty inoffensive cream IKEA base and […]
Although the weather is still not *perfect*, we’ve definitely come out of winter and hibernation. The woodburner is on less these days, our heaters are only switched on to get rid of the early morning chill, and we’ve even had a window or two open. The garden, which last year was largely a building site, […]
We’ve decided that the not-so-bottle-green bedroom wall, is staying. Despite it not being the colour I had in my mind’s eye, we’ve grown to really love it. And a bargain of a find in TK Maxx when we went to Graz, in Austria, sealed the fate of the colour – a beautiful green angle poise […]
Like every room in the house, the main bedroom had a mix of natural, untreated stone walls, bare plaster in places and some parts of the walls, already painted white. Pine floorboards were untreated, and ceiling beams were in the same state. They were actually quite lovely in their naked condition, but just felt a […]