Coup de coeur #9: Serena

(A series of "Pierre, what do they not have" posts)

The filature was the last house in France we visited, in May 2015, before we decided that we'd look further south, and try the south of Spain. To my surprise that is an area that has very many watermills, even though there are no true rivers, and very little rainfall. The region does have very big "aquifers", underground water reservoirs, that were tapped and used for irrigation, and to run watermills.

Those mills are not the kind you see in France, with a big paddle wheel dipped in a river, happily paddling along. The mills in Spain all have an individual reservoir above a horizontal waterwheel that is slowly filled, and is emptied on the wheel on demand. That reservoir can be filled slowly with an aqueduct, and allows the miller to do his work for about 15-20 minutes.

The picture is the Molino de Serena, not far from Bédar, sitting in a valley of it's own, really private and peaceful and quiet. An irrigation canal supplies the mill with water, as it does to irrigate the citrus field that belongs to this property too.

Lovely view away from the house. Can you hear the birds?

For us the location is absolutely lovely, it has much of what we want. Peace and quiet, a lot of space, no direct neighbours, irrigation water, and quite a big house (200m2+).

There are "but"s here, too. The house is big, but the space is divided into a lot of tiny rooms on three levels. There is only one room in the house, on the first floor, that has a decent size. The kitchen on the ground floor is not usable for us, the ceiling is only 2 meters. This is a house that was built year by year, room by room, as more space was needed by the then owners, the available skills, and materials. So there is an eclectic mix of techniques. We've tried very hard so visualize how to better the layout, and even went as far as to ask an architect if the cellar could be converted to a garage, and if some walls could be removed. All in all, we finally decided it was a step too far, even though the location is A++.

It was cheaper than the house we finally bought, but with the work needed to make the house nice(r) we estimated the cost would be the same. And still the house would not be really our taste, as we prefer big open spaces.

It's still for sale as far as I know: http://www.olivehouse-es.com/property_sales/listings/l0806.html