June 2011

I took two days out at the beginning of June to visit the villa to see how the additional landscaping work that we had scheduled looked.

Paolo had already shared some pictures with us but I needed to see it first hand. I also had some jobs to do including clearing some items from the property but also cleaning the villa and pool.

Disappointed I was not!

This is the first view you get from the bottom of our track.

What has been finished?

Railings and a gate now enclose fully the pool area.

All the irrigation is complete and the turf laid.

Eighty or so plants typical of the region including lavender, rosemary and myrtle cover the slope.

We have two bougainvillea that you can just see in the picture above on the wall to the left.

Stepping stones have been laid to protect the grass.

There are steps to the pool house and the pool house is complete with a hinged roof allowing access to the pump and filter plus space to store the equipment and chemicals.

Here is another picture from the other end of the garden.

And another one showing the pool area.

Pleased...

April 2011

Mimi and I returned to the villa towards the end of April for a 6 day break and an inspection of progress.

With the girls in tow for a supposed period of pre-exam study we drove the 845 miles that it is from door to door instead of flying in order to take with us some further bits we had accumulated for the villa.

Paolo, our architect, had reported to us earlier in the month that the hard landscaping work we had scheduled had started but we had no idea exactly what had been done or whether the soft landscaping in the form of turfing or planting had started.

We arrived to find some good progress had been made on the hard landscaping including a completed 'Aioula' mentioned in my last blog and also some low walls to separate the turfed area from that to be planted.

You can just see the 'Aioula' in this picture taken from the road above the villa.


Aldo, the plumber, had mostly completed the irrigation, but, disappointingly, other than the delivery and spreading of some new soil, there was no sign of any plants or grass.

When we saw Paolo the next day he did explain that the soil would need time to settle before the turf was laid. Accepting this as a more than reasonable excuse the disappointment reduced.

Here is a close-up of the Aioula showing one of the low walls and the start of the path/steps to the pool hut.


We did a number of things during our stay with my time dominated with sorting the broadband/wifi connection which I finally achieved on day 5 after resolving a problem caused by vodafone incorrectly registering the equipment.

I could easily have stayed but a party back home celebrating the Royal Wedding beckoned!

Note to self: Return soon.

February 2011

We are almost five years on now from when I first stepped onto the patch of overgrown hillside that was to become Villa Benara.

The past few months had found me thinking about what elements were outstanding and the more notes I made, the more obvious it became that a visit early in the new year would be needed to move things along.

It was important though, in order to make the most of the two days Mimi and I had planned to spend there, that some preparation was necessary and I pre-ordered a spare swimming pool filter from 'Nuova Agrotecnica' and, with some considerable help from an Italian friend, Rossella, a 'sopravasca' (shower screen) for the guest bathroom.

Flights booked we headed to Nice on the morning of Thursday 24th, collected the hire car from Budget (Avis) and, being in no rush, set off east along the 'moyenne corniche' to Italy.

After a quick food shop at CONAD in Latte, just over the border from Menton, we picked up the 'sopravasca' from 'Borea' and then the filter. I also managed to speak to Federico Allavena to arrange a meeting at villa for Friday afternoon to talk about the landscaping.

We arrived at the villa late afternoon and proceeded to sort some things out, the most important being a small issue that we had with the electrics, post the change to a three-phase supply.

Friday morning saw us in 'Centro Esse' buying loads of random stuff for the villa including some shelving (well spotted by Mimi) for the 'ripostiglio' as we needed to make sense of the stuff we had stacked on the floor.

The weather was fantastic albeit a little cold at night but the radiators are efficient and the villa was soon warm enough.

Whilst Mimi set about tidying and organising I was outside dosing the pool with a shock dose of chlorine and making a bonfire, this being one of the few times each year when it is safe to do so without the threat of causing a 'forest fire'. The fuel for the fire was all the wooden construction materials and pallets left over from the build.

Later, inside the villa Mimi started building the shelving whilst I started drilling holes in the bathroom walls to mount the frame for the shower screen. In between we hung a few pictures and re-arranged the furniture in the 'soggiorno'.

During the day Andrea Guglielmi had been repairing the electricity meter hut that had been knocked over a few days earlier by some, as yet, unidentified rogue! Paolo arrived at 4pm and with Andrea already there it gave me a good opportunity to discuss some small building works I had planned.

I have always liked the idea of having an 'aioula' built around two olive trees at the bottom of the track leading to the villa. We discussed that and the need for two very low walls built to frame the areas to be grassed and planted. In addition I have asked Andrea and Lorenzo to quote on a small 'villetta' for the swimming pool pump and equipment accessed by some simple block steps.

Federico Allavena arrived at 5pm and we talked about the planting. Having previously decided on using grass seed we have now decided to pay extra and get an instant effect using turf. I am reliably informed that Federico's firm are the best in the area!

Here is the picture of the shower screen folded back against the wall.

Trip to villa over, Mimi and left late in the afternoon on Saturday 26th and went to a palazzo in Seborga to attend a 'Peace, love and grooviness' party hosted by an old friend, Mark Dezzani, before arriving at Nice airport just 30 minutes before our flight departed!

Can't wait to get back to Perinaldo in April to see how much has changed!

... but this is the view for now!