Day 1

Arrived late afternoon in Cloughjordan. Long trip from Salobrena via San Sebastian, Nantes, Cherbourg, Irish Ferries and Rosslare. Welcomed with fresh baked muffins, milk and tea bags from our neighbour with the green roof. The house we're renting is not quite finished. No news on the planning permission.

What led up to this.

In 2002 while working in the United Arab Emirates at an international agricultural research centre and post-secondary educational system respectively, we visited my sister and her husband who had bought a place on the Granada coast as a home base and for their retirement while they were working in international schools around the world. The idea appealed to us and we ought a small apartment in Salobrena. Several years later, in 2007, after working in Tajikistan and Kyrgystan we retired from international development work and 'settled' in Salobrena. As a foil to apartment life we bought what many Spaniards have, a cortijo in the country where they go at weekends and where they often grow vegetables and fruit.

Spanish dwellings are not built for warmth in winter and cool in summer. We viewed many many places looking for a place that met these criteria and that would allow the inside-outside living style suited to the Spanish climate - climate-friendly in other words. Our search took us to a Ronda villa with two hectares of vines that had promise but also had a high-speed railway planned along one boundary. Nearer to Salobrena we found a south-facing 40-year old small villa with a 1000 m2 plot and amazing sea views. We contacted a  Granada company specialising in ecoarchitecture with a view to retrofitting. This part of Spain is tectonically unstable and many houses and roads have cracked and subsided. A geotechical survey, the architect's design and costing for a knockdown and ecorebuild suggested that the investment required was sadly unwarranted for this site. A more appropriate option would be to underpin the existing house with micropiles and retrofit, investing sufficient to render the house comfortable and the garden productive.

In August 20134, we searched for ecohouses on the internet to compare the cost of the proposed new build in Spain with exisiting ecohouses elsewhere. The search turned up Cloughjordan, an ecovillage in Eire. To investigate further, we flew to Ireland, staying in a self-catering house in Portumna as the Django's ecohostel was full. Every Saturday and Sunday there is a tour, which we joined, spoke to residents, a builder, architect and were invited to a community dinner - a regular Friday evening happening.

Throughout September we corresponded by email and phone with site sales in the ecovillage. The architect produced nitial drawings and the builder indicated that it could be built within a budget we could afford. We made an offer for two sites to allow orientation of the house for maximum solar gain.

In October we flew again to Ireland for another week, staying in the ecohostel, taking another tour of the village, the Makery, theHeritage Centre, meeting with residents and being invited into their homes, and enjoying a film at film night and another community dinner. The architect's preliminary drawings looked good and we met with the ecovillage legal advisor about the MUD (multi-development) Act. It does apply to the ecovillage we found out later.

In the following months, October to January, our solicitor corresponded with SPIL's solicitors. The planning application was lodged 6 December, the ecovillage membership fees paid, the ecocharter signed. The winter storms soaked the planning application to the extent that it became illegible. The council demanded that it be relodged, which it was on 20 January. Meantime we corresponded with another prospective buyer on issues concerning the purchase of the sites and how the MUD Act affects the ecovillage.

In February we flew to Ireland, again staying at Django's, meeting with residents, being invited to look round their houses, hearing perspectives on village finances, the development of the community and purchasing processes. At this stage according to our solicitor we needed a development agreement from the SPIL office before exchanging contracts. In Killaloe, we met with Liam and Eddie in the Wooden Spoon and over capuccinos and raspberry scones tweaked the design, talked windows and the colour of the house (!). In Nenagh we looked at both wooden and aluclad windows. The date for starting building was set for 20 April, allowing two months of granting planning permission and the one month waiting period subsequently.

It was a shock, come 20 March, to hear that planning had not be approved. Fortunately we had not finalised the purchase of the sites.

The house we've rented.