Danish version

John moved to Spain in 1982. He went to the small village of La Herradura situated by the Mediterranean approximately 70 Km east of Malaga. The distance from Hillerød is about 3.100 Km by car, driving via Mulhause, Lyon, Barcelona, Alicante, Murcia and Granada when you prefer the motorways.

For many years John lived in rented houses but 3 years ago had the possibility of getting his own house. Good English friends had some land with a very old house (a ruin) which needed a helping hand to be restored. This project would have taken some time but this was a challenge. In order to have a roof over his head during the construction works John bought a cabin of wood and this was his home including bedroom, office, sitting room etc. The kitchen was made as an addition and the toilet was like a toilet camper’s use – outside the cabin. It’s not that cold outside ;-)

However this did not happen as the Spanish authorities planned to make a motorway going precisely over the land and the plans had to be cancelled.  

A new possibility came up. John was able to buy himself some land (appr. 5.000 m2) further up in the mountains. This has a wonderful view of the town and the sea.

The land was virgin land and had to be levelled to be able to lay the foundations for the oncoming building. This was made with, amongst other things, a loader tractor.

The cabin of wood from the first land gave some inspiration. He bought two extra cabins and placed them on the base with some distance between. Look at the drawing below. The idea was to combine the cabins with walls in wood making it a connected house. Cabin number 1 is the kitchen and bathroom, number 2 is the bedroom and the office, and number 3 is going to be the workshop. This workshop will be for the production of candles

The open space between the cabins is closed with a roof-construction and the walls are in wood. Under the tiles on the floor there has been laid under-floor heating for the periods of chilly weather.

The electricity is made from solar panels (with a bit help from a generator when the sun is hiding). The under-floor heating will be made with a solar collector. The water for bathroom and kitchen is collected from  the rain on the roof which is 125 m2 and a pipe feeds it to a 7.000 litre tank situated on  higher ground on the land which provides pressure to the taps in the kitchen and bathroom. When there is no rain, a tanker must provide the water. 

The work has been going on for a couple of years and it is very impressive what one man is able to do with not too much help from others.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

                                           

Temperatur in Malaga right now