Casa Edera

We are the Banks family (The Casa Edera Team) In 2003 we began looking for a holiday home, after much research on the internet we decided Italy was the place for us. After a week looking round Tuscany, much of our time spent in traffic queues, all we could afford was in the mountainous region to the North. Very picturesque when you got there, but the hair pin bends left those seated in the back feeling like they had been on a roller coaster ride,  Tuscany was not for us.

Back home we read an article in a Sunday magazine about a little known region on the Adriatic coast, which had gentle rolling hills, a slow pace of life, friendly locals and as yet was undiscovered, it was likened to stepping back in time to how the south coast of England was 50 years ago.

 Le Marche lived up to all our expectations!.

On our first visit we looked at in excess of a dozen houses all in various stages of ruin, and then we found what we had been looking for, half way up a hill with breath taking views of the Sibilini mountains to the front and a medieval village perched at the top of the hill behind.

Everything went smoothly, we signed the compromesso (promise to buy), paid the deposit. Two months later we returned to finalise everything, we were now the proud owners of 2 acres of land with four derelict buildings we lovingly refer to as our four piles of rubble.

Then began the slow process of renovation ,which pile of rubble do we rebuild first? what permission do we need? where do we find a builder, but most importantly what have we taken on and how much is all this going to cost.

Renovation

As this was going to be a steep learning curve we decided to rebuild one of the small piles first and that a  Piano, Piano or slowly slowly as the Italian say was the best course of action. Our first renovation would be our ivy house (Casa Edera), It took 12 months to put everything into place, first we hired a local geometer to over see everything on our behalf, as Italy is an earthquake zone the house we built had to be earthquake proof. The skill of the crafts men and the end result have delighted us.

Work began September 2004 – completed August 2005

First night in our house August 2005

Our plane landed in Pescara Abruzzo; during a thunder storm, this in itself was a bit of a surprise we hadn't thought to pack rain wear in August. We picked up our hire car and headed north. When we arrived at the house the key was hidden where we were told it would be, however after some initial difficulty and snapping the first key in the lock we managed to get in.

We cleaned out the house, blew up the airbeds (we had come prepared), had showers and left heading for one of our favourite restaurants  We hadn't paid much attention to the date all we knew was we were going on holiday to our very own little house, but the date was quite significant as August is when Italians go on holiday.  It was still raining, our only protection was a large orange sun umbrella,  and everywhere we went was closed..  Eventually we found a little family restaurant , it was now 10 o'clock at night we looked like drowned rats and we were starving I think the owners took pity on us and invited us in, we sat round an open log fire, we were warm, dry and fed. little did we know that there was another mishap to come.

It was pitch black and still raining when we returned up the track to our house (not many street lights in the country side) as  we pulled into the makeshift drive the front wheels stuck in the mud, at that point all we wanted to do was go to bed, the car was duly abandoned and we crawled into our sleeping bags. The next morning Alex worried about the car had woken at 6am and already had it dug out. At  9am the sun came out a van trundled up our lane bringing the furniture we had ordered on a previous visit, our adventure could only get better!

Some 12 months on, every time we visit our house we accomplish a little bit more, we planted  an orchard November 2005 a wooded copse November 2006. This summer we built a patio and have plans for more planting in Autumn.

We have made several good friends; taken friends from England and recommended Le Marche to many more; we just hope it remains the relaxing un spoilt place we found 3 years ago.

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