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Renovation of the house in Fournes, Western Crete.

In November 2001 we bought a traditional village house in the village of Fournes, which nestles in a valley overlooked by the White Mountains and surrounded by orange groves and olive groves.

The house was in need of extensive renovation including new roofs, and although we would have loved to done all the work within a few months, we did not have the finances and decided to do the renovation in stages.

I have included pictures of the renovation process on the following pages and after each visit to Crete I will update these pages with information and photos of the progress.

Denise Durkin

Renovation of House in Tsikalaria

Follow the renovation of a lovely village house in Tsikalaria, in the Malaxa area of Chania near Souda.  Our clients Vivien and Chris, started the process of buying the house at the end of 2004 and the planning permission came through at the end of July 05.  Work started on the renovation in October 05. 

Vivien has written the following, describing their experience.

In October of 2004 my husband Chris and I met Denise, from Yorkshire and Spyros, a local civil engineer from Chania.  They both impressed us as knowledgeable and honest people.  The first house they showed us was a derelict property in the hillside village of Tsikilaria, on the furthest edge of Chania from the sea.  The house consisted of just four rooms in a row with no corridor, semi-derelict with no plumbing, wiring, doors or windows. 

We liked the quiet village with its narrow winding lanes.  The property was next to a tiny church which stood on the village limits, with nothing beyond but the mountains.  We liked the irregular shape of the 250 sq metre plot, the fact that the location was on two levels, and the dry stone walls marking its boundaries.  We also liked the large rooms with thick walls, and the outside bathhouse, which I thought would make a good study for my husband, who is a writer.

There was also a mature vine, spreading over a makeshift steel pergola in the semi-circular courtyard, forming a shady outdoor dining area.  In one of those Cretan gestures of spontaneous hospitality, a local woman presented us with a bunch of grapes as we were looking over the site.

We also liked the views from the house, with the sea at Chania visible in one direction, the harbour of Souda Bay on the other, and behind us the mountains.  What was also important to me, as a non-driver, was the bus, which left the village square for Chania every 15 minutes.

We were also shown another house, further into the mountains, which was immediately habitable, accessible and had large working olive groves attached. 

The four of us then went for lunch at a restaurant by the harbour in Chania.  By the end of the lunch Chris and I had decided we wanted the first property and 6 months later it was ours.

Vivien Peachment