Work began immediately to clear the rubbish left in the cottage and the outdoor apotheke. Some old items were salvaged and still remain in the cottage now.
Better access was made for the trucks to deliver materials and the excavator took an immense amount of soil and rubble away to create a drive and terraced garden.
Once inside all the internal walls that were slatted bamboo and lime mortar mix were removed leaving an open plan space.
The stone-workers began to remove all the old cement between the stone walls inside and out. This revealed the poor condition of the walls; one of which was unsafe and in need of major repair.
All the old rusty aluminum windows and doors were removed.
It was obvious that new roof tiles were needed but we had intended in keeping the original joists and floorboards, if possible, to keep the cottages aging character. But on closer inspection only five of the fifteen wooden beams were actually connected to the walls; these being made of tree trunks (one end much thicker than the other) and decaying due to old woodworm. So sadly, all had to be removed.
Half of the end gable wall was only made of wattle and daub so that had to be removed too. At one point the cottage looked sadly worse than when we first started. Although we were in no doubt that this was to be a beautiful home, it did feel a little daunting watching it deteriorate in front of our eyes.
The stone-men drove us on, daily arriving at 7am with their fantastic work ethic and enthusiasm, masters of their craft.
The stone walls were cleaned, re cemented and a ring beam added to strengthen and tie all walls together, ready for the roof.
A new roof was erected (not by us) with the pitch of the roof altered on one gable end, to prevent extra weight being added to the wall that was rebuilt.
The lower level was a back-breaking task of removing soil and rubble, an external stone staircase and a woodstore; barrowing and lifting this up via our neighbours garden steps to the upper level.
We dug down 20 cm extra to construct a new concrete floor and reinforced walls with ‘plegma’ iron mesh. This is to add protection from earthquakes and support the upper floor. All the pipes for bathroom and kitchen waste were added at this point.
Our 72-year-old neighbour (Dimitra ) was a total star. She helped carry buckets of cement in each hand over the beams, and became a project manager telling us how to do it her way. She supplied us with Greek coffee breaks every morning and checked on the site the days we had to stay with the yacht.
Maverick laid every floorboard on his hands and knees and where there was a trapdoor to the lower level, he made a new staircase. Rather steep and shallow but this remained in keeping with what had originally been there, although moving the position enabled a better layout downstairs.
So, this began a labour of love. We worked tirelessly until it was dark clearing rubble and moving stone every evening, long after the stone-workers had left. We returned to our yacht each night, not always to sleep depending on the winds. We repeated this day in day out.
Originally the plan was to renovate and rent the property but with all the dedicated hard work we fell in love with the cottage and village life and Maverick made an executive decision to sell our beloved yacht.
This happened much sooner than expected and we became ‘landlubbers’, moving into the cottage (The Goat Bell) in June, only 5 months after viewing it.
No furniture, no windows or doors, no means of cooking, and no water or bathroom facilities......Wow! what on earth were we thinking.?!!
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