Back in February 2024 we had abandoned our search for a house in Rethymnon, having got quite far with a multi storey place on the edge of a holiday development outside the city up in the hills. We had stretched our criteria – looking at Plakoti, a house on a holiday development of 40 places with a huge shared pool. And two sets of stairs!.
We tried to stretch a two bedroomed place in Neo Horio and raise the ground level so it would be step-free. In all we saw 19 properties over several months. We were moving on to realizing that, in order to get what we wanted, we were going to have to build again, and from scratch.
So, we’ve made the decision to build from scratch. We don’t want to go back to Northern Europe – too wet and cold, too foreign, too much of a wrench. We don’t want to rent because there is no security of tenure, – we’d might need to move every 3 years. We’ve looked at buying an existing house – but they all need so much changed to make them suit us its just not worth it.
We’ve found and bought a plot. In the nicest village in the Apokoronas,with all the amenities we like and need. A plot the right size (~1000m2), with wonderful views of the mountains, in a quiet area of the village surrounded mostly by expats, within walking distance of the centre of the village, even – at least for the moment! – a “local” serving good beers and food within a stone’s throw.
So this is it – still green and edged with trees. Lovely views of the mountains if it wasnt for the sun setting in the west!
Here’s a picture of the plot from Google Earth, our little 1000m2 plot marked out in blue. The school is to the east, and lots and lots of olive trees to the west, but well below us.
And on April 25 we have signed the all the papers at the offices of lovely Artemis, with our long suffering lawyer Athina, and the agents who seem to do all our business, Elizabeth Estate Agency with Elizabeth and George.
So now we need someone to design a very special house, the love nest in which we intend to live out the rest of our lives