Hi there, I thought I would tell you some more about our proposed B&B. we have designed it so there are 3 suites. Each has a living room bedroom and ensuite bathroom with bath and seperate shower. The rooms are a good size and each has its own music system and Ipod dock. Each room has some private space, two with direct access to the garden and the other with access to a balcony. The names of the suite are Melangrano (Pomegranite) , Fico d'India and Neroli (bitter orange) the colour and the room themes will follow from the names.

This is how the house will lokk after works have been completed. Modern and light but energy efficient.

Well there is not much new to add to my blog. We are still waiting to hear from the Bank regarding the mortgage. Once we have recieved the ok I can authorise the start of work. If we dont recieive it I have decided to sell the property and do something else as life is to short ........ but I am hopeful :)

Well today is really hot in Tuscany and half of Italy has already gone on holiday and the other half is getting ready to go. The bank has still to confirm my mortgage. I should hear in a couple of weeks hopefully holdiays permitting. The form has gone off to the revenue though and we have now got planning permission. So as soom as the bank says yes i can sign the contract. We are keeping our fingers crossed!!

Hi there, well the week could have started a little better. We should have received plannng permission on Monday but it is still not ready. Maybe thursday. It is not a disaster as I am waiting to hear regarding a mortgage from my bank which I would like to know about prior to signing the building contract. We wouldnt want a house half finished due to not having enough money. Also in order to claim tax back on the building restoration work my accountant needs to send off a declaration prior starting work to the tax man, I learnt yesterday that this had not yet been done. So a short delay is not too much of a problem. In addition to this I learnt last week that my registering as resident at the house last year had not been processed, a year after I had been in the town hall to do it. It had been sitting on an officials desk somewhere or under a pile of papers. So i had to visit the town hall to sort it out.

Its a mad world but twice as mad in ITALY

Sunday and its sunny again after the big storm we had yesterday I am currently at work in Tuscany but my mind is thinking of my future home. We have in the grounds of Casa Colleverde 3 fig trees. Two of which have already produced some lovely ripe fruit. So much so that I have had to make some jam. We also have an old olive grove which had not been looked after for many years. The trees we have had pruned for the first time in a long while, more like massacred, and they are looking little sorry for themselves. I will eventually do this for myself. We have 100 trees but it will be a few years before they start producing any significant crop. We hope to use the old stone mill down on the aurelia towards Sarzana to produce our own organic oil.

Have a good weekend everyone.

To get to the stage where we are ready to start building work has taken 18 months so far. The designng planning and administration takes a long time in Italy and after a while it begins to wear you down. You have to persevere and have a lot of patience and think of things how they will be in the end. The eventual aim is to have a home where we can provide to our guests something special. They will have a beautiful room with great facilities. They will have on their doorstep beautiful surroundings and lots to see and do and I hope they will enjoy the food and company and leave wanting to come back.

We hope to be able to be as 'green' and energy efficent as we can. We will recycle water and refuse. We will be installing photovoltaic panels and solar panels. We will be using rain water collection in the house and garden. We will be using organic produce where possible. All this and hopefully much more

In the next couple of weeks we should be signing the building contracts and then our adventure will be begin in earnest.

The first post

Welcome to the blog of Casa Colleverde a bed and breakfast in the Liguria Levant in the Colline del Sole the province of La Spezia

The house and website are in the course of being built and we hope you will follow our progess and visit our site and eventually our home.

Our progress you will be able to follow here.