Are you buying or thinking of buying a house in Italy? Weclome to met channel where I am renovating and restore an old disused rustic rural farmhouse that I purchased in Italy for less than £50,000. I will cover why I chose Italy and the process buying a house in Italy. What is the best region and why I chose to live in Le Marche over places such as Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo and Puglia. Welcome to my new channel.
Important aspects of what was involved to buy the property, red tape, and show the challenging task of renovating, restoring and building in a rural location.
Decision on whether to go off grid or stay on grid. Can I make a homestead and grow my own food. All is yet to be determined, agreed and approved. I have a lot of research to do first.
House design plans, prices or materials in Italy, planning and town hall permissions and wine….good wine will be enjoyed along the way (and great food).
This rural farmhouse renovation will take me many years as I plan to do as much DIY work as I can on my own and with the help of friends. I plan to enjoy all that Italy has and the adventure of exploring the best regions of Italy to live in along the way. The farmhouse renovation is my priority but so was moving to Italy for the sweet life!
If you wonder what the life and lifestyle is like when moving to Italy or Europe or if you are planning your move to Italy then I hope to cover how this worked for me.
I plan to show how I found a cheap Italian house and the house search process. How the viewings with property agents went, and how I found the single story farmhouse that I bought.
I hope you enjoy my videos and pop by to say hello in the comments!
If you like the channels that I am inspired by, such as WWOG @WildWonderfulOffGrid , @MartijnDoolaard , @ateliermavi , @escapetoruralfrance , @LifebyLiving and @Mrandmrsadventure then I hope you are in the right place and like my channel also (there are many more great channels that I watch and am inspired by…)
In this new video I show you the raw state and condition of the outhouse to the main farmhouse that I bought in rural Italy. I discuss the plans for the new build extension and restoration. A view of the land and views, as always, plus I am asking for your help on what to do and how to test my natural water well. Water pumps, water purification and water testing.I build a temporary kitchen from the wood left over from the temporary deck build, which you have seen. I check the fireplace and chimney for any blockages. Finally, I gather and store as much fire wood as I can salvage from the tree trimming and cutting.
Importantly, I plan to replant many more trees than I cut down. The tidy up of the land and house is essential work to bring this beautiful old farmhouse back to life.
This is a catch up video so I note the time of year. Not quite a Timelapse but I do speed through a few things to try get up to date as fast as I can.
You should get a feel for how the Italian house was when during my first few months of owning house with farm land in Italy. There is a lot of clearing still to do but by showing you what it looks like and the condition that the house is in when I took ownership it should give you a feel for the scale of the restoration that is in front of me an what you may expect if you buy a cheap or one euro Italian house.
Chapters
00:00 Temporary Kichen 2.0
04:29 Chimney Sweep
06:50 Drone shot Le Marche
07:11 Outhouse Tour
11:44 Salvaging the good stuff
11:58 Death Trap
18:55 HELP PLEASE water well.
My website (coming soon) will be threeacresofmarche.com
Here you will find more detail content that should suit those seriously looking at Italy and want to know more about the costs and challenges.
On social I have two links for Instagram. One for myself as I explore Marche and Italy in general with the second being more specific about my house renovation of Casa Capitolo (translates as Chapter House – inspired by Erin and Josh over on Wild Wonderful Off-Grid).
instagram.com/casacapitolo
instagram.com/richard.nash.it
I hope you enjoy my videos and pop by to say hello and let me know where you are watching from in the comments! Please feel free to ask any (not too personal) questions.
First of all thanks everyone for the comments and the feedback and the subscriptions just amazing so I really really appreciate it and it’s so nice to see people say hello from wherever they are in
The world so I um really [Music] humbled all right these catchup videos a lot of the work I’m doing is outside the reason being I was strictly told by the geometra to not make any changes to the house
Or the outhouse even the barns so example is if I pull the roof off the barn even those roofs that are hanging off anyway somebody might from the town hall might say oh that’s not a barn anymore
And they just literally delete it from the map so whilst I’m going through all this planning and trying to get the allocation for for all the the things that exist the advice was just don’t touch
Them so until then there’s enough for me to get on with the clearing up anyway as you seen I think when I get to the spring videos they’re going to cover a lot of the questions that I’ve had
In the first few videos uh from a previous video I showed you the tour of the house this time I’m going to take you into the out house which which is where there were a few unwanted guests but I
Think I’ve moved them along safely or they sorted themselves out should we say at the end I open the well again try and measure how deep it is I do need some help so appreciate that there’s loads
Out there watching that know a lot more about this than me so when I get to that bit yeah I would really appreciate your help hope you enjoy it and yeah let me know I’ll read as many comments
As I can and try and get back to everyone Thanks for subscribing it’s uh it’s amazing so what do you think of the out house get an Airbnb in there or only joking no so the plans
Are knock this down fully this is about 60 square m something like that so 60 and I should get an allocation extra 10 or 20% of it the idea is the allocation of the land of this ouse is
Rebuilt in into well that’s where the plans are it was going to be a big extension it might be a separate building it might be in a different part of the land loads of discussions of how and
What I can use it for and interestingly there’s a bit of a debate about the hide so the back end where you’ll see it’s obviously very low and the far end the end near the house is is really high
Somebody thinks they want to take the height from the lowest end now why would I want to extend a house where you could only crawl in and out of it so obviously there’s a lot I don’t understand yet
That’s where my geometra is uh coming in handy well I say handy you got to have a geometra and he’s sort of fighting my corner even though there’s rules regulations building regulations and whatnot um same as any country really when you come to ask for something there then seems
To be a round of discussions what to agree now importantly here I’ve said from the off I don’t want to mess with anything I want to make it as rustic As Natural as possible I want to make
It look like everything else is in Italy I don’t think I want to arrive here and expect that I can just build a glass Villa or something stupid so I’ve promised them any designs I’ll fit into the local architecture it’s beautiful anyway rustic tiles on the roof wooden shutters who wouldn’t
Want that I think there’s a concern that you I come in as a as a foreigner and I’m just going to change everything and turn it into an Airbnb which I’m not even though those who are interested in
Coming to this region larque They are promoting it they do want people to convert houses and I think there’s a TX relief if you have guest houses or airbnbs but do that research yourself I only hear this through the great find but I’m not going to change this into a guest house
Or anything plan is just use it for our friends and family and house sitters when I’m not there all right let me pause the video here for a second and just highlight this little beauty this was hidden deep in the overgrowth of all the brambles that’s a death trap right there
That’s why I couldn’t go in with Machinery or going guns blazing cuz I didn’t really but I I can’t get out it’s buried in so that’s the other thing I can’t lift that thing out right so I’ve opened the well up again and I went with a high-tech measuring tool which
Was piece of string a brick and some chicken wire and dropped it down slowly so as you see I’m sort of Plumbing it down and didn’t feel any resistance just a real slow drop and and then it
Stopped so with my very rough calculations as I pulled it out I think it’s roughly 54, 55ft deep which is about 16 m so here’s where I need the help is that deep is that good is it bad is it
What is it and then the next thing is testing how do you test the water properly how often do you test it and well you know will I ever drink it I’m not quite sure and will I let my daughters
Drink it that’s the ultimate test I suppose so is there are there companies that provide tests and if there’s any recommendations I gladly take them and then finally I’m not near this yet but pumps I’ll look at pumps and I’ll probably get some solar power to the pump and then move this
Water to two water butts one halfway up the field one at the top and I figure off that I could get some natural irrigation or you know some natural water sprinklers for whenever I choose to plant
And uh and grow in that part of the land in the future so I am in the dark here literally I did consider sending the GoPro down there with a torch on it just to see what it looks like but
You don’t want to get down there and see something you don’t want to see do ya so um what do you think I need some help I’ll take all the tips I can get I really appreciate that all right thanks
21 Comments
Guessing you arent married. If I was in your place, my wife would be very much "This house needs work before you start on the fun landscaping."
–ahh firewood, I was wondering what you were keeping the cut wood for. Not something we think about in my neck of the woods.
–You will need to get the water tested. Should be a company locally that does that. I would talk to a well company. They can help you figure out what you actually need. We have an above ground well and ours is 125ft deep. We also have a pressure tank, resin and salt tanks to remove iron from the water. Some people have chlorine tanks as well but my well guy didnt recommend them and said the water is clean enough. A 50 foot well we would call an irrigation well, and have one of those too. Aside from the pump and timer(not sure how electrically talented you are) the physical part of setting up irrigation is pretty easy knowledge wise. It is a lot of work and if you have a long way to go I would recommend renting a ditch witch. My property here is also 3 acres but I only put irrigation on my 100+ fruit trees.
Haven't dealt with a well in Italy "yet"! Had a lot of them put in different places in Africa and Brazil when I was working and living there. Just had the pump replaced on the well at my house in the US last September. I don't think the depth matters as much as how fast it refills when you are pumping it. Had and area in South Africa that I remember the wells were hundreds of meters deep we had to keep paying extra to drill. Here in Indiana my well is like 75 feet deep. I wouldn't worry about the depth personally. Like others have said water testing should be easy and cheap to find.
Sorry to see outhouses means the same in Italy as it does everywhere else! Hopefully you will find some kinda septic system you can tie into. Look forward to watching your progress!
I look forward to your video every week. I enjoy watching you think about individual points and design your property piece by piece. My other favorite is 'Real Algave Living'. Maybe you know Andrews videos too? My request to you: Could you continue to number your videos? In April, May and June I'm searching my own little dream in Piedmont and I don't want to miss a video. 🙂Numbering makes it much easier to keep track. (Sorry if my English is a bit bumpy. It's not my native language.) Buona serata!
Hello Richard, so glad I found your channel! I am following you from Germany. It's so wonderful to see how you make progress and things are growing, disappearing, getting nicer. And what a wonderful kitchen bench! Just love it! It makes such a huge difference. I only would have been a little bit scared entering the outhouses… and those little garden residents… aaahhh. By the way, just in case you still need some more inspiration for easy building furniture: There is a cool guy you may have a look on youtube.com/@bourbonbites Awesome and simple furniture ideas to copy. And I wish you good luck with the well! Would be so nice to have one not only for watering the garden. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with your house in le Marche 😊
Im officially not moving there – you have scorpions !?!
that kitchen table was so satisfying to look at!!
Another simple yet inspiring vid! Although people will be living vicariously through your content, hopefully it also encourages us all to action re our own dreams and lives. I was reminded of the following quote the other day ( from my fav movie Under the Tuscan Sun ) " Life offers us a thousand chances. All we have to do is take one." Cheers to La Dolce Vita! 🙂
We bought a house that is about 14 miles from your house in Corinaldo in 2012. Hard to adequately describe the beauty of the region. We enjoy returning and reestablishing friendships. The restoration truly never ends, but its the best part of the journey.
Careful with the white smoke in Italy…
Nice video. I like the wooden doors in the outbuilding.
Yes you can lift it out by yourself. It's a question of leverage.
Don't put your feet into your boots without shaking them out, to make sure there are no scorpions, etc. in them. An old cowboy trick.
Check your drainage around the house before the rains. With the property being on a slope may require French drains, soakage pits etc! Good luck with it, great views.
It seems like you really enjoy the process. Great kitchen counter. I look forward to seeing you light a fire in the fireplace. And check for scorpions in your boots before you put them on!
Hello from California! New subscriber here and I just want to say what a beautiful property you have there. Great buy with so much potential and the surrounding view is absolutely gorgeous! I love what you done so far and can’t wait to see what comes next. 👍👏🏼😍
Olá from Lisboa, Portugal! Beautiful landscape and a great project!
Do you speak Italien?
Hello from the west of ireland. Love your videos, keep them coming. Looks beautiful there. Good luck.
Lots of elbow grease needed when starting out on these overhauls…good thing that's when you have the most energy.
Meanwhile, there are a host of us who are sent your videos as recommended no doubt because of others we watch doing the same and….. we're intent on cheering you on.
I've read some if the comments below and it saddens me that fertilizers have won out and now taken over the water supply; future generations will have their challenges indeed because if this.
I do love how many sturdy souls have embarked on bringing life and light back to long neglected homes, not only Italy but in Portugal and France. The countryside will change remarkably over the next 5 to 10 years as a result….
Your efforts will be rewarded and, to me it's a million dollar lifestyle you're creating.
Almost 70 now, this surely would have been a younger me doing this…
Look forward to joining the adventure with you!
❤🇨🇦
Hi, from Dorset. Love your enthusiasm, I'm jealous really I should have done what you're doing 20yrs ago. I am visiting my sister in Canelli in Piedmont in two weeks time which I do twice a year. They have renovated a house and garden up in the hills and I always think working in the winter is really rewarding, especially with bonfires and clearing stuff and hopefully having some early sunshine and sunsets.
Keep up the enthusiasm, you'll get there, even if it might be a lengthy process! I'll be watching your progress.
My father is from Corinaldo. Madonna del piano. I used to spend summers there. You’re living my dream.