Casa de la Luz

is about 3 km West of Vejer de la Frontera, still in Andalucia. The land, a rough uncultivated campo covered in native, wild (and uneatable ) olive trees, was acquired in by a young English couple in their 20's about 25 years ago. Jane and David set about building their house from the stone lying around, gaining their skill on three little casitas at the bottom of the garden.
About 5 years ago David went to HongKong where he established his online business called - wait for it - WorkAway.info! So by chance I find myself in the very place where the idea which I have embraced took off.
The house was let to tenants who did not spend much time on maintenance, whilst Jane went to live in town; running her English school and soon after meeting Louie had a little girl Florence.
Soon the flat was too small, so they decided to return to the land and put it back into good order. David, who in the meantime had found a Chinese girlfriend, was quite happy with the arrangement and even contributed funds for the work.
An important construction factor overlooked during the building of the houses was the type of soil. Here it is bands of clay and earth which heaves when wet. Over the years it has moved substantially and the walls, erected directly on the ground with an infill of unreinforced concrete have separated from themselves and the pavement, which itself has rippled and cracked. So a succession of WorkAwayers of which I am the latest have been hard at work fixing things. The time horizon is only another 20 years luckily, because the original 3 shacks should really be torn down and rebuilt. The main house is liveable though and the necessary repairs are fairly small.Read more