Dave and Lyne Simpson, with their daughter Becky, had been living in Spain in their new Spanish villa for almost a year now. Situated in the mountains close to Pinoso in the Alicante region, they decided it was time to beautify the garden. They had foregone a garage in favour of spending the money on […]
Read MoreIt was a perfect spring morning, with sunshine filling the front room of Dave and Lyne Simpson’s recently built villa in the mountains in Spain, near Pinoso. Becky, their young daughter, played outside with Max the dog, the scent of almond blossom wafted through open French doors and birdsong completed the idyllic setting – and […]
Read MoreWood is an attractive and practical material for use in construction, from a simple picnic table and chairs or a Pergola to a complete House. Here in Spain we are seeing wood being used more and more – a welcome change from concrete and steel. Wood is strong, light in weight, flexible and relatively easy […]
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Last year, my wife and I wanted to purchase some wooden garden furniture. The list was fairly short: a picnic table with some matching chairs (maybe even a combination picnic table with bench seats attached) and a couple of easy chairs for lounging. Over a period of a couple of weeks we trawled various garden […]
Read MoreIt would appear that horse power is on the increase in and around the town of Pinoso in the province of Valencia, and I don’t mean the internal combustion engine variety, but gee gees, good old Mr. Ed and pals. ‘Neigh, surely not,’ I hear you say, ‘the Spanish love their cars too much, don’t […]
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As a kid, I always wanted to have a wooden tree house. I had the perfect tree in my sights, a big Scots pine with thick, broad branches. The tree house would stretch around the trunk, supported by its great arms on four sides. In my mind’s eye I could see it clearly: a trap […]
Read MoreWood is on the up again in Spain. If it’s on the up then in must have been down? It was, and for very good reasons. Anyone who has purchased and renovated an old, traditional stone and timber house will most likely tell stories about the problems they had with beams and general woodwork. When […]
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Timber decking is a natural way of adding that little extra to your house and garden, whether for extended outdoor living space or simply a place to dine with friends. Elevated wooden decking is gentle under foot, requires very little maintenance if properly treated and assembled from the onset, and it looks beautiful. As a […]
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When I see wooden ranch fencing I think Dallas, Then again, when I think about a pint of beer I think Rosie Blackthorne, her buxom form behind the bar pulling the pump. It’s funny how the mind works. In the same way, when I see metal posts and mesh wire used to keep horses enclosed […]
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Have you ever had to venture out at night in the rain for some logs to keep the fire bright and hot? I have, and I live in Spain. ‘What!’ I hear you say, ‘sunny España and you burn a fire?’ You bet. Open fires and wood burning stoves are used from Barcelona to Cadiz […]
Read MoreEver fancied keeping a few chickens? You can’t beat a fresh egg, and what better than one hatched the very morning you eat it: sizzling bacon, a bit of fried bread topped with a pert, golden egg delivered by the old speckled hen. It doesn’t matter where you live, Madrid, on the costas or in […]
Read MoreKeeping Cool with Woodworks Direct The warm and sunny weather in Spain is probably one of the main reasons most of us come to live here but we soon discover that having shade is just as important as having sun and that goes particularly for outside the house where creating areas of cool shade is […]
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Here in Spain, the most common materials used for flooring are ceramic tiles, marble or a type of quarry stone. Ceramic tiles come in all shapes and sizes and some are even made to simulate wood. They can all look great (if laid correctly), feel cool in the summer and are reasonably easy to keep […]
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My granddad had one, I have one and quite a few of my neighbours have one – a lean-to. What obviously distinguishes a lean-to from a carport is that it doesn’t house a car, although many carports provide cover for anything but cars, so I guess what word one uses to describe it is somewhat […]
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Gazebo! No, it’s not a new game using dice and a score sheet, although it is a rather odd word for an elegant structure gracing gardens and parks throughout the world. No one appears to know exactly where the word originated so gazebo it remains, until someone comes up with a better one. Although it […]
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Car Ports appear to be winning out over conventional garages these days. The main reason is cost, because at the end of the day why spend thousands on a brick-built or modular concrete garage when a car port does the job equally well. In the past, when the metal and paintwork on cars sometimes lacked […]
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