We've thought long and hard about how much current renovation we want to do in our Istrian stone house, as it is imminently going on the market, as we have plans for a whole new adventure. However, with the demolition and clearance of the small stone cottage behind...
We do love our tea in this house, but we like tea which is very uncomplicated. I have bought leaves and strainers - and even went so far as to bring back rose petal from Morocco - but the just ends up sitting in a pretty containers and the various strainers just take...
Way back in 2016, we viewed our house fro the first time, and this was the garden. Although "garden" is a bit of a stretch, looking back. A mucky, concrete patio and a patch of scrubby land, full of rubble and stones - proper ankle-breakers - and vines attached to an...
Having lived for six years now with the view out of our living room window being the small stone house we purchased from a neighbour, things are going to be looking very different, very soon. The vine...
the story of the little stone house When we bought our house in Istria six years ago, this little tumble down cottage sat to the rear of it. There are lots of properties like this scattered across Istria and Croatia. There are many reasons for the properties being...
Well, that's almost a Christmas wrap. We've spent the last few days hunkered down, with the wood-burners on, lights twinkling, candles flickering and eating all manner of luxurious food at the most inappropriate times of the day. Chocolates for breakfast, with a tot...
Kozlović winery is one of the best-known wineries in Istria. The family has been producing wines since 1904, and today, the winery is run by its fourth generation. We are lucky that it's about twenty minutes from our house and so we can visit at less busy times -...
In a previous post I wrote about our desire to eradicate the parts of internal walls which have not been plastered and are still the original Istrian stone. Some people would love the walls, but as the years have gone on, I have to say my love of exposed stone -...
San Servolo is a well renowned independent craft brewery in Buje, in northern Istria, producing excellent beers and pale ales. I'm not a beer fan, but have been known to have a bottle or two of the gorgeous red beer, so that's a recommendation in itself. As well as...
Although it seems like no time since the long, heady days of summer, we're well into October now and only a week away from the clocks going back an hour. Usually, we've had the wood-burner lit by now, and our logs delivered. But not this year. Since early April, we've...