Our current journey started in 2017, when we sold our home in West Didsbury, Manchester. We’d lived in the mid-terraced, three bedroomed house since 2000, but had recently renovated it, creating a very unusual, completely open plan space. This gave us a craving for more space. To be somewhere which didn’t have houses to each side of us and to the back and to the front. To be able to see the sunset, not other roof tops. We took a complete leap of faith and sold the Manchester house, buying a stone house, high up in the hills in northern Istria, Croatia and set off on a very new journey.
We really hit the ground running and from day one, had to get our heads around not only sourcing tradespeople and materials but also considering what we wanted our new home to be like. Underpinning our thought processes, was the constant idea that we wanted to create something which was unique and bespoke – and as far from the traditional interior of an Istrian house as possible. We wanted to get to know our new environment and feel the house and understand the space. We wanted space, light and clean lines. We wanted our style, but we knew it would evolve. It would take time. It would become Slow Design…
Renovation
Interiors
Lifestyle
Travel
Latest Blogs…
Defining Boundaries
If there is just one thing we have learned from the journey of selling our renovated house in Istria, it's that boundaries are number one priority for nearly every potential purchaser. To the point of obsession. Even before getting into the house, the questions asked...
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Les Jardins de Villa Maroc, Essaouira
It’s always great having friends in-the-know when you travel abroad, as they often give you top tips that you don’t find in guide-books or through internet searches. Because usually you don’t know about these places and so don’t search on them. One of these gems...
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British Corner Shop
We're not short of places to buy food here. Istria is stuffed to the gills with supermarkets - Lidl, Spar. Kaufland, Konzum, Studenac, Eurospin, Tomy, Plodine, Butiga Ultra. They come in all shapes and sizes from the small convenience store (think Tesco Express) to...
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Zadar, Croatia
Zadar has the most beautiful sunset in the world, more beautiful than the one in Key West in Florida, applauded at every evening. So said, Alfred Hitchcock, on a visit to the stunning Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar. And, if he said it, it must be true... We are now...
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Moving On…
The phrase "End of an Era" has been used a lot over recent days, and although not on quite the same scale, it's also the end of a bit of an era for us. In December 2020, we finally signed a pre-contract on the purchase of a very unusual building in Oprtalj, which had...
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Lluna Aqua Hotel, Sóller, Mallorca
When we last visited Mallorca, one of the hotels we booked was the Lluna Aqua Hotel in Sóller. Housed in a traditional Mallorcan townhouse, which we were told had been empty for over eighty years, the renovation had only recently been...
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Jamie Oliver Squash Laksa Soup
As summer has passed, so too have overly summery dinners. Gone are the cool, green salads and light dishes and in come the more hearty recipes. Eating outdoors isn't really an option any longer - although we still have sunshine, there's a chill in the air and it all...
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Boutique B&B Mali Pariz, Marušići, Crikvenica
Every now and again, you stumble upon the most perfect place to stay. It happened to us last year when we discovered The Dolphin Suites, on the beautiful island of Veli Lošinj. And it's happened to us again this year, having discovered the most wonderful little...
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Kitchen Makeover Time
The kitchen was the first room in our Istrian stone house to receive the full renovation treatment. The units we had inherited were ripped out, the flooring taken out, the ceiling taken down, a new window installed, brand new units and appliances fitted and under...
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A Bit of Bling
In the olden days, when I wanted to up-cycle something, out would come the paint pots and brushes. Faffy and fiddly and usually waiting ages for the paint to dry. And because I am ridiculously impatient, I'd try and pick up or move...
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Courgette Fritters
Like a lot of our garden, now that autumn - and the rains - have finally arrived after a very long, hot summer, our vegetables seem to be growing at quite a pace. From seeds, we've got a bit of a bumper crop of courgettes, so having done a few soups, we decided to try...
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The Dolphin Suites, Veli Lošinj
After a long hiatus from travel, and after getting our second vaccinations, we decided to do a bit of exploring this summer. Croatia has managed the pandemic well, so far and so we felt comfortable about beginning to explore where we live. Travel in the past has...
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Window Shelving
One of the things that we've always meant to tackle, but never got around to it, as there always seem to be other jobs which take priority, is the levelling of a number of our window sills. Some are level, but some, including one in the...
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Gorgeous Glassware
For such a long time, I've been trying to find glasses like the one on the right of the photo, above. We seem to smash our "every day" wine glasses on a regular basis in our house and never seem to have an even number, so the quest was on to find something that was a...
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Brondo Architect Hotel, Palma
Over the last few years, we’ve been very lucky to be able to pack in a huge amount of travel – as well as actually move abroad, relocating from Manchester to Istria, in northern Croatia. We’ve spent the last couple of years renovating a stone house and exploring our...
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