cave houses

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sharon@andalucia
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cave houses

Postby sharon@andalucia » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:26 pm

Hi my name is Sharon and I'm new to the forum. Thank you for allowing me to join. I am currently researching cave houses in the area near and around lake negratin . I hope to buy one in the near future ,initially to use as a holiday home /retreat but with the intention of spending the majority of my time there upon retirement in 4/5 years time.
Could anyone who lives in the area please advise me which village is the most popular or which one would you recommend and why ?
I would like to be close to the lake and mount jabalcon .
I have no desire to become one of the expat who flock to the nearby costa del sol ( although I have friends in Feungirola ) as I prefer the rural traditional Spanish lifestyle .

thanks

maureenscot
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Re: cave houses

Postby maureenscot » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:21 pm

There is lots of info. Try the search column

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costakid
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Re: cave houses

Postby costakid » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:17 pm

There is a member on here who is into blogging about cave house.

TishTash
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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:30 pm

Hi Sharon,

I'm in the process of buying a cave house about 30 mins from lake Negratin and have visited that area 4 times this year already. If you want to be close to the lake and close to civilisation then choose Baza. It is the biggest town in the area and is full of shops (Mercadona and Lidles) and all amenities. There are many other small villages in the area that are also only a stones throw from the lake but that one is the most popular. If you want to stay in a cave hotel to get a feel for what it will be like I can recommend a great one which is £40 a night and has twin beds. Only sleeps 2 though.

The location you choose will probably be decided by the view you get from your cave rather than how close you are to the shops. Some caves have views that seem to go on forever and others are like a row of terraced houses in the UK - great if you want neighbours, not so fab if you want peace and quiet.

If you need to know anything else, just shout.

Natasha

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Re: cave houses

Postby maureenscot » Sun Sep 10, 2017 10:26 pm

Great info Tish Tash. I suppose the secret is to get one with a view and near amenities. Which category does your fall into?

TishTash
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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Sun Sep 10, 2017 10:38 pm

Mine is practically in the middle of nowhere with an astonishing view. In front of me is Mount Jabalcon, to the right is the Sierra Nevada and below me are fields and fields of Olive groves with silence everywhere. My closest village has two bars and a tiny supermarket. Baza is 45 mins away and will be my once a week food shopping trip. I intend to sit outside with my coffee in the morning and take in the view with a huge sigh.

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Enrique
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Re: cave houses

Postby Enrique » Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:30 am

Hi,
"fields of Olive groves with silence everywhere."........well most of the time........ :D

In harvest season the tree shakers will be out, chain saws at pruning time and the high pitched whine of the sprayers.

The Junta does aerial spraying from time to time too.
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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:38 am

Hi Enrique, yeah I guessed the tree shakers would be making an appearance at some point. Meh, I can put up with that. Jan or Feb isn't it? If it means that the rest of the year is lovely and quiet, I'm happy :) Apparently there is a donkey somewhere in the valley that likes waking people up with it's braying, I can put up with that too lol

What I can't hear are the following. Police sirens, ambulance sirens, people mowing lawns every weekend, people having parties on Friday night, kids shouting, mothers shouting louder and airplanes flying overhead. I will hear birds, donkeys ;) probably lots of dogs and maybe some farming happening during the picking season. If they are loud enough I might actually hear a neighbour or two, but being so far away will make that easy to ignore. If the tree shakers are really noisy I will hermit in the cave till they have gone :)

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Re: cave houses

Postby maureenscot » Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:38 pm

hahaha. I would probably like one nearer to amenities. Other than Baza, are there any near other reasonable sized pretty villages?

TishTash
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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:35 pm

To be honest, they are all pretty. I've only seen one that is rather derelict and I would steer clear of and that's Rejanos. Galera is a picture postcard of white washed cave houses though and worth a look. Check out Google Earth and have a look on street view, or Google Maps if you prefer. It will give you a really good idea of the state of your surroundings before you decide :)

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Re: cave houses

Postby wollie » Wed Sep 13, 2017 5:32 pm

Just wonder what are the advantages of cave-houses v a regular house with a basement?
I have friend who has a town house with a basement, when it gets really hot they just
move tv downstairs where there is a sofa bed and use this as the living area...

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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:46 pm

Hi Wollie,

I imagine that both a basement and a cave have very similar properties with regard to heat and cold retention. The only difference with your friend and cave dwellers would be that their stuff is already in the cool section ;) Probably less natural light in a basement too as even a deep cave is usually on the same level as the front of the house thereby getting a little bit of light during the day.

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Re: cave houses

Postby wollie » Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:57 am

Oddly enough there is natural light in the basement i mention, there are two open-plan rooms in the base with 60x40 window in one and the light extends into second room, its a very unusual house built on a steep slope in village.

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Re: cave houses

Postby BENIDORM » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:02 pm

Sharon,
It's a very romantic notion living in a cave and probably OK for holidays, but based on my observations over many years I doubt that it is a good solution for retiring and living in more permanently.
I think that if you discussed it with Spanish people they probably wouldn't agree that it is a ''rural traditional Spanish lifestyle''.
It will be difficult to integrate and could become a very lonely existence after the initial 'honeymoon period' and it is, in my opinion, better to be very near amenities .
But Good Luck to you and I do hope that you grow to like cave-life.
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: cave houses

Postby Pamela1 » Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:51 pm

Cave houses are in abundance in the area where we have our Cortijo.. We have 3D views of them all around us and some are huge and very impressive. Having said that they are not for me, i like windows in each room and natural light but those people who do have them seem to love them..
Not all cave houses are in the campo, our local village has many as does the nearest large town, one of the caves in the village is a bar. There are also a number of cave hotels in the area as well as a good number of cave house holiday rentals. It might be a good idea for anyone who wishes to buy a cave home to first try out a holiday rental and if it's still for you then good luck..

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chrissiehope
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Re: cave houses

Postby chrissiehope » Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:42 pm

I always fancied having a cave house, until I went to see one when we were house-hunting. I didn't like it at all, & felt really claustrophobic inside :-( - they're definitely not for me !
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Re: cave houses

Postby BENIDORM » Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:54 am

Pamela1,
I agree some cave house are big and quite tastefully presented and many have 'proper' houses built on to the front, but many people like Chrissie and my wife find them claustrophobic.
I have visited many caves, not just in Spain and have stayed a few nights in one, had a meal in a cave restaurant, watched Flamenco dancing and visited a cave museum, but wouldn't choose to live in one.

Last night I searched through my yellowing and well thumbed notes 'Gordon's Facts, Findings and Theories of cave dwellings',written by me many years ago, long before Google was born, when I was interested in the archeology of caves.

So first the 'floor' of a cave, ...it would appear that the cave floor is usually at maximum about 6 inches in depth and consists of hard packed mud containing animal and human faeces , animal and human bone fragments, charcoal, nut shells, mollusc shells, fish bones and other unknown matter.
My theory is that caves have been used by humans for many 1000's of years but not until quite recently as homes.
I believe that caves were used mainly as burial chambers ( similar to Dolmens), storage of grain,for meat curing and preservation and as animal shelters/ compounds.
Cave drawings are fascinating and really are the only known records of how people lived many 1000's of years ago, and I believe most of the drawings found in caves used for human burials,the drawings representing the lives of the deceased person and as a guide for them to enter the 'after life'.
Caves have probably been used more by wild animals such as bears, big cats, bats and snakes, and more recently by nomadic tribes, such as Gypsies , however I doubt that they actually originally slept in them ,preferring tents and huts.
There is a tendency for toxic gases to form in the deepest caves, so care must be taken to ensure good ventilation is provided when using a cave to live or work in.
And that my friends is a potted version of my notes, I won't go into the other uses such as places for satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, cannibalism and more recently for the practice of banned religions, politics and followings.
Have a Good Day Everyone,
Regards,
Gordon Flintstone. :lol:

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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:51 am

ooooooo lol human bones, satanic worship and poo. Now everytime I rest my head for sleep I will be thinking of all the different things my cave was used for.

But you say that you don't think they were used to live in. That doesn't make sense to me. One of the things about the interior of caves is that they are cool which makes them a perfect place to get away from the ridiculous temperatures outside, both during the day and at night. So if I were a rural farmer or a shepherd or someone from a low station in life I would absolutely live in a cave to get away from the heat. They may not have been a prestigious place to live and perhaps the wealthier Spanish turned their noses up at people who lived in caves but they provided fantastic shelter from the elements. I'm sure they did house animals in them, one cave section for the pigs and another for the grain/food store, another as living quarters and one with a fireplace for cooking.

I've no doubt that they were used for all sorts of interesting things and I look forward to finding out the history of them when I move to the area, it's fascinating stuff :)

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Re: cave houses

Postby BENIDORM » Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:15 am

Tish Tash,
Sorry...I wasn't trying to spoil your dreams, just reporting my findings... :oops:

I'm sure that people will have sheltered in them, but they were quite dangerous places to sleep in because you would probably be sharing it with a predatory animal. :shock:

I noted evidence of many small stone built shelters near caves, probably built and used by goat herders and the like.
An elderly Spanish man once told me that they would often spend a week or more working deep in the campo ( too far to walk home each day ) and would sleep in the stone shelters or in a tree.!
Many years ago ( 1960's) I 'worked' with a Basque who during the Second World War had been a guide for escaping Allied airmen, and they did shelter once in a cave in the mountains in the North and were attacked by a wolf whose home it was.!
Fortunately they managed to kill the wolf and escape....
Anyway Good Luck with your cave...
Regards,
Gordon

TishTash
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Re: cave houses

Postby TishTash » Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:25 am

No worries Gordon, you haven't spoiled anything at all :) I'm still eagerly looking forward to being in my cave. The one I'm looking to buy has a a facade which contains the kitchen, bathroom and a small living room, plus it has a couple of bedrooms upstairs. But I'm going to sleep in one of the cave rooms downstairs so that the summer heat doesn't melt me. I'm going to fill it with ridiculous amounts of LED's so it looks like Santa's grotto all year round and smother all the entrances with yards and yards of crystal organza so it looks like a cross between a Bedouins tent and an igloo. Bliss.


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