Update March & April 2004

Weather:
The weather in March was a little better than February but so far April has been quite wet! We have had a couple of good weeks but to be honest sometimes it was better weather in the UK! However, now we are in the third week of April and the weather has warmed up a bit and we keep telling our guests that it can't possibly rain any more (PLEASE!!!). The one good thing is that it is great growing weather and the olive trees are sprouting lovely new shoots and getting ready to flower (although this is late this year as the weather is unusually chilly).

Building Work:
Hurrah - Richard has finally finished work on the Lodge (photos will be posted next week). It is really fantastic and I can't wait to move in in a month's time. In the mean time we have guests staying in there and they have given the new house their seal of approval.

Renovation work is well underway in the Barn - the upstairs bathroom is completed and as I write Richard & Dante are building more internal walls for a bedroom - they recon it will be ready in a couple of weeks (in builder-speak I recon they mean a month). Anyway, it seems well on track to be finished in plenty of time for our first guests at the end of May. I hope I don't live to regret saying that.

Richard and Dante have got started on their first job for Casa del Sole Construction. They are replacing a dodgy roof up in a lovely little village called Vellano. Richard is also kept busy (as if he wasn't already!) looking for houses for other people who are interested in moving over to Italy.

GUESTS:
We have settle into the routine of having guests around again. All three houses are full from now onwards so we are kept very busy pleasing out visitors. Unfortunately, because the weather has been so bad, we have not been able to start the 'Pizza Parties' yet but we are just waiting for the nights to warm up a bit and we'll be partying away (hopefully with less burnt ones this year!)

Gregory enjoyed having English children to play with over Easter and had a great time making dens and lighting camp fires with his new friends.

ANIMALS:
Morgan, the new dog, has made a total recovery from her boar trap wounds and is now confined to her kennel until she is trained to come to us when we ask. easier said then done (and if anyone has any tips they would be gratefully received).

Merlin is in the 'dog house' as he was provoked by a cheeky chicken (it was pinching his dinner) into biting her wing completely off. Remarkably the chicken is doing fine and now we have re-christened her 'Flight' (aren't we rotten!).

This spring our hillside is overrun with wild boar - we have seen a couple and they are making their presence felt everywhere with their rooting. There have also been lost of sightings of mink, porcupines, foxes and Hoopoes so if you are a nature lover this is the place to be.

Garden:
Those naughty wild boar are rooting up everything I plant! I have eventually given up on the whole thing this year and now have an agreement with a friend up the valley - I will provide her with eggs and we get their surplus veggies.

I am really disappointed about the garden but next year I'm hoping it'll be back to normal or we'll be able to build a bigger fence to keep the boar out.

Summer is only around the corner and here's hoping that it will be a pleasant one - not a scorcher like last year!