Cortijo de Morales is a good example of how we can reform a ruin.
Here is what happened during a day out earlier this year. (The names and some details have been changed to respect the privacy of our clients.)
Luis and I drove high up into the Alpurarras to see a ruined farmhouse belonging to one of our clients. Abandoned for about 80 years, they want to make it in to a comfortable modern home, but keep the ancient charm.
Erik and Jutta met us in the village and took us in the 4×4 up a long and bone rattling track. I have to be honest, the finca didn’t look much from where we parked.
We entered through a huge medieval looking wooden door that opened onto a courtyard. The tiles in the courtyard had apparently been taken from a church ruin many years ago. The courtyard was open at one end to one of the biggest vistas I have seen. The land rolled away from us, and in the distance I could make out tiny towns and villages scattered on the hills, and eagles circled overhead. They may not have been eagles, but I was getting quite carried away.
I could have gazed all day, but we had business to do. Jutta was dying to show us where the bedrooms would be, the kitchen, the extensions for paying guests. Erik was a bit less excited, and wanted to know how we would do it, and how we would keep the charm of the old building, especially the old tinajas, giant clay jugs for fermenting wine, which had miraculously survived.
Luis made some suggestions to change around the floor plan, bringing more natural light into the kitchen where it turns out they actually spend most of their time. Fortunately most of the structure was still in good condition. We talked at length about lime mortars, the cracks suggesting structural problems in one of the old stable buildings, and the chances of getting planning permission for the new extension.
Erik seemed very pleased by what he heard from Luis. He had been told that the old walls needed to breathe and shouldn’t be rendered with cement. Luis explained that much of the work on the old buildings can be done with traditional lime mortars, allowing the walls to keep working as they have for hundreds of years. The roof will have to be rebuilt – in a traditional style, but using modern insulation and waterproofing. The extension will be all modern materials, but finished to fit the general aesthetic. We even talked about maybe putting a living roof on the new extension, but it still hasn’t been decided.
They were both keen on under-floor heating, as the winters can be pretty chilly in the mountains, and they want traditional looking tiled floors. Combined with an air-source heat pump, some solar pv panels, and good insulation it will make for a very comfortable and energy efficient home. More comfortable than it has ever been! Yet from the outside it will look much like it has done for hundreds of years and would fool a passing Moor.
