Our house is on the road to take off on the edge of the original mediaeval village. It’s curving façade faces southeast to southwest, with views of the mountain. The ground floor exterior is build of rough hewn granite stones, and the first floor a deep red colour with the four original, elaborate, iron balconies. In January of 2008 Piedrahita was declared an area of special historical interest because of its history and monuments. Our house is now listed as a building of significant historical interest by the regional government.
Inside there are seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room and kitchen.
We have named the bedrooms after wild flowers found in the area.
It is a spacious kitchen, with 2 dining tables and several worktops. A big arch separates the cooking and eating area from the storage area.
Facilities: Oven/hotplate, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, double sink, washing machine, microwave, paraffin heater. Plates and cutlery for 12 persons; cooking utensils.
There is one big bathroom with a wide frosted glass window and a large Victorian Roll top bath, which originally belonged to the house and was carefully restored when we bought it. It has a shower screen, washbasin and toilet.
The second bathroom has a shower cubicle, toilet and washbasin and a smaller exterior window.
You may notice one peculiarity on the ground floor: the outside walls are remarkably thick, since much of the lower granite facing stones formed part of the original mediaeval wall. Apart from being an attractive feature, it regulates the temperature downstairs and keeps the whole area nice and cool even in the hottest days of the summer. So much that many people comment on the air conditioning when they enter the house.
The first thing that draws your attention when you go up to the first floor is the low ceiling. It is no higher than 2m, and that is one good reason why you may decide to stay downstairs. Hitting your head on a door frame is easy if you are over 1.85m tall (6feet). However, in the winter having such a low ceiling makes heating the house a lot easier (and cheaper), and probably a hundred years ago when the house was built, Spanish people were rather short.
The other unusual feature is that there is not a wall, door or ceiling which is straight, or a room that looks square giving the house an interesting interior appearance. There are no standard sizes, so the carpenters would have hand made each item
The floors upstairs are original wood, a bit creaky in places. It may upset light sleepers when people walk around at night.
All the rooms have exterior window balconies except one which has a window. The original exterior windows/doors give onto exterior window/doors for added insulation and soundproofing. As well as curtains they have wooden shutters on the interior.
It has a balcony with views of the mountain. We can check what the wind is doing at take off with a peek through the telescope before going up the hill.
As with the kitchen, two arches divide the room in two different environments; one area with a fireplace, bookshelves and an armchair to read, and another area with the television, sofas and coffee table.
We have a selection of flying DVDs and videos, an X-box video game console and a Sky satellite dish with UK channels.
One of them is en-suite in one of the bedrooms.
Both have a toilet, washbasin, storage space and a shower cubicle, and they are both interior.
The main living area of the whole house is yellow, but the bedrooms have all been painted in different colours.