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Actually in Vera, Almeria

The old town of Vera, which lies at a mere 10km distance from the Mediterranean Sea, at 15km of the well-known bohemian town of Mojacar. A residential Spanish town, with a long history and a peculiar culture that one only gets to understand by living there for a while.

This is the view from the little balcony outside the main bedroom. A little park called The Plaza of the Andalucian Poets, where children can play safely.

And for those inclined to take a stroll in the evening or before breakfast in the morning, our local Rambla (the man-made river bed) is at 50m distance, at the end of my street.

Well, my big heart moved downstairs, where it can grow even bigger!

Sometimes people stop to admire it.

The house is actually a duplex, with a large open-space living room, a kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 1 on-suite bathroom and a guest bathroom in the living room. Outdoor living is cozy in 3 areas: the patio by the entrance to the house, the balcony and the back patio.

The first two get the sunshine for the most part of the day, until around 3-4pm, whereas the latter gets the scorching sun around midday, as if under a magnifying glass. With adequate shading, this can still offer adequate outdoors dining space, just outside the kitchen and the living room.

The staircase is of marble (Rojo de Alicante), which fits in nicely with the flooring on the ground floor. There is no handrail on either side of the stairs, which was  a deliberate interior design choice of mine...

However, this is a priority of mine this year, to ensure that I make the house suitable for a family with children or for disabled people.

Bono, my guardian, is perched at the bottom of the stairs, named after the then Defense Minister of Spain :-D

With a comprehensive library, from floor to ceiling on the right, which is my pride and joy, here you can see the entrance to the kitchen and the sliding door to the back patio, where one can enjoy 'al fresco' dining, just like in the front patio with the garden, shaded by fully matured plants.

On the left of the sink, there is a gas cooker, with oven as well as the washing machine. Basic, but functional.

I preferred the rustic look in the kitchen as well, to the modern fitted kitchen cabinets. Not as functional though...

From the double bed, perched on a good, healthy mattress, one can watch the sunrise from the comfort of this bed... The space on the left is now taken by a big shelving unit, with drawers, housing my linen & towels.

I altered the plans of the house, in order to have an en-suite bathroom (below).

The study room is where I used to spend most of my time, working on a project or another. It would probably be a good idea to keep it as a study for my guests. It has Internet access, but no phone line I'm afraid.

The dressing room is next to the bathroom and it also has an additional double futon bed, which I will change for another comfortable bed, either for children or for an extra guest in the house, depending on circumstances.

The bathroom is small, but functional, with a 170cm long bathtub with Jacuzzi facility (both water and air jets), toilet and sink built into a cabinet... no bidet!

The hot water is by bottled gas heating, however much I wished to install solar heating and hot water facilities when I first bought the house.

From this corner you can (just) see my house, with the white car in front.

Taken from the same corner, at the end of this street is the Lidl supermarket.