I Dig It, Man
Rubens digs out the off road parking and footpath, having removed some trees. The retaining walls will be re-built in the new position. That bank is about 2 meters high...
Off road space cleared, showing space for a truck and a footpath. The truck on the right is taking away some tees to be processed. Big ones too :(
The house next door is rather elegant; used as a holiday home for the owner.
The drive widened, now Rubens can get to the area where the house is to be built. Another truck load of spoil leaves the site.
Once the Trees had been taken back, the roadside parking created and the drive widened, Rubens was able to get his excavator onto the land proper to do some dig-dug ground preparations.
So this will be the approach to the property - imagine with the retaining wall rebuilt around the tree area. Pretty impressive. What do they say? Curb Appeal. I hope the tree roots can take all the disruption. We will see. I hope so.
The plot is on a hillside and so various levels or terraces needed to be made to accommodate the front drive behind the trees, the house foundations (located over an old ruin) and a further level below over which the decking sits, and which may house a covered worksop or parking and runs down to the pasture / field.
That is some serious slope: I suggested to the project manager that we may open the Azore's first artificial ski slope. I doubt that planning permission would be granted, but it sure would be popular with the Scandinavian and Mainland Europeans on Faial. Yodelling lessons available on request.
I reckon the slope on the upper part of my land is steeper than this... advanced skiers only then! The slope is no problem for building on terraces.... but there is a drive to consider. We will revisit this issue later: "An Issue to be Considered".
To make things a little clearer, I've rotated the basic outline plan to show the access road at the top of the image. This early outline does not show any access to the lower under decking area... this is all up in the air at the moment awaiting some further architectural drawings (more of this later).
The access road, with roadside parking and footpath. The drive runs down past the raised tree area. A wall outline is shown down the side of the drive... I don't know about that, as it stops the area between the house and the trees being used as a turning point. Main parking is shown here to the right of the house (as we look at the image). However, depending on cost and practicalities, this may be extended down to under the decking, providing parking, bike storage or a workshop / covered BBQ area.
As mentioned above, it would be good to use the area above the house as a turning point, so you can come onto the drive to the side of the house and when leaving, reverse around the house and come out of the drive 'nose first' rather than backing out onto the road.
To the left of the house, between the trees and field I can visualise a vegetable / herb garden in raised beds. This would be "south facing" and largely sheltered by the boundary wall and the house, receiving sunshine for a large portion of the day, throughout the year.
I'd also like to get some steps from this area up to the raised tree area (not shown). Then a nice picnic table among the trees could give a dappled, shaded area to enjoy the late afternoon sun, a glass of wine and wave at any cows and farmers coming down the old road. Great!
The plan above doesn't show any decking outside the bedroom - I'd like this and it only needs to be large enough for a couple of chairs and a coffee table, but will be a nice place to chill in the summer evenings. Not far to fall into bed.
So hopefully you can see that there are various areas around the house that can be used throughout the day and through the year:
Main decking looks toward Pico, across the field, guaranteeing the view. Morning Sunshine, shaded in summer afternoons, keeping the living area cool.
Left of property provides a sheltered sun exposed growing area. Also good for drying clothes!
Above the house trees provide shade and shelter to the house and a picnic area. Late afternoon sunshine comes through skylights to warm living area especially in winter months.
Drive above the house provides turning point and hard standing as well as a sunshine deck outside the bedroom patio doors.
Right of the house is the pedestrian access and parking / drive, also can be used as a BBQ area and is not in shade during the day.
Below the house is the possibility of storage or workshop / shelter under the decking.
The field provides scope for pasture, crops and wildlife.
In general the house is fully sheltered on three sides from the winds experienced during the cooler, but mild, winter months. The winds can be strong however, so this is good.
Back to the digging....
Digging further back into the tree line to get to the level for the house and area above. Serious. I'll be happy when the retaining walls are back up. Scary sh*t.
Next up - Terraces & An Issue to be Considered ...
