Now Casa Colina Blanca had a new name we needed to plan some initial refurbishments and improvements. Our priority was to make the place as comfortable and practical as possible for our own planned out of season visits. Most obviously from our initial visit the heating needed to be improved significantly and the electricity supply and fuses needed an upgrade.
We found a fuel-efficient and attractive Aduro wood-burning stove that could be ordered and supplied locally. To protect the wall behind and set it off in the room we also found some hand-made tiles, made by Hispalceramica in Seville, that we rather liked. Bizarrely, it was the tiles from nearby Seville that held up this little project – it took 6 weeks from ordering to delivery! However, the end result was worth the wait.
Also on the comfort front we had electric bathroom radiator/towel rails fitted and got a few extra power sockets where we felt we needed them. The local firm, Imdelec, also fixed us up with a new fuse box and meter. The story re electrics is to be continued! Finally, for now, our agent’s property refurbishment manager advised we needed a new gas boiler for hot water. Vejer largely uses bottled gas for water heating although there are solar systems appearing on the roof tops here and there.
A local friend of friend provided with a flexible on-line subscription to UK TV once we had a phone line and ADSL up and running, none of which proved problematic. We did toy with not having a land line and just going with 4G but our area didn’t have guaranteed coverage.
Externally, the only obvious immediate repair work was to shore up the tiled “porch” over the from door and to re-plaster the courtyard entrance doorway. The latter was technically a shared responsibility of the courtyard residents but in the circumstances, it seemed a reasonable gesture just to get it sorted while we had the refurbishment team around.
All of this work was put in train during our first visit and then implemented in the Spring so we had lots to look forward to seeing on our return in March, or so we thought!