I suppose it all started in January 2005 when Craig and I crossed the border from Slovenia into Croatia and began a love affair with this nation, forged in war, that we know will last our whole lives long.

Like any relationship, it has had its ups and downs and building a house in a new born country, outside of the EU has been both an adventure and an education but overall a privilege.

To spend time in said house and country, as Croatia has climbed out of the mayhem of unrest and developed into one of the most beautiful and chic holiday destinations in Europe, is an honour.

Back in January 2005 we didn’t know what we didn’t know. It was love at first sight and we were both overwhelmed by the heart stopping beauty of Croatia and the amazing friendliness of her people.

We bought a piece of land in glorious countryside close enough to the coast to satisfy Craig’s love of “all things nautical”,  We  drew up some plans and returned to the UK naively thinking that our new home would be ready within a few months as promised.

To cut a very long story short, in March of the following year, after many delays and problems, we were informed that our long awaited holiday villa would be ready for us to move into by May.

We decided to pack the small collection of things that we wanted to take out into our caravan and drive out. After a rather eventful trip (details of which can be found in the “memory book” at the house) we arrived tired and jaded but buzzing with child like excitement. Imagine our horror when, as we pulled around the corner, we discovered that the house still had no doors, no windows, no kitchen – in fact no anything that would entitle it to be referred to as liveable!

We took the only course of action open to us and positioned our caravan on the plot of land adjacent to ours, unpacked our things into a hastily erected awning and began 4 months of living in a caravan with no running water, erratic electricity using a cable draped across a building site to one of the other partially built houses and conditions underfoot alternating from throat coating dry dust to welly sapping knee deep mud, depending on the weather and the comings and goings of numerous trucks and tractors.

Eventually, after days when there were builders but no materials, followed by days with materials but no builders, arguments between workmen and one particularly spectacular storm which left our clothes floating in a sea of bright orange mud and the newly installed electrics in the house frazzled by a direct lightning hit; just when I was seriously losing the will to live the house was deemed near enough to completion for us to move in.

OK so there were no internal doors – no proper water supply and the electricity cable still traipsed across the building site and was now connected to an extremely dodgy supply located in an old Croatian farmhouse; the owner of which would quite happily disconnect us for hours on end if the fancy took him. All this aside we had flushing toilets, walk-in showers and we could go to bed in a different room to where we ate and cooked – progress indeed.

This is not really the end of the story. It took three more years of haggling over water and electricity supplies and frantic dashes to notaries before the house was finally completed and registered in our names. I would be lying if I said that we never regretted building in Croatia but – like a good marriage – we saw it through and now we can enjoy the results.

The house has gone from strength to strength and now has an inviting swimming pool, landscaped gardens and thanks to the fact that we lived there for several summers is furnished and equipped to the highest of standards providing a cosy home from home for us, our family and all our guests.

Again due to the fact that we lived there we know the local area and people intimately and can advise on the best places to go, the nicest places to eat, how to avoid the crowds if you want to and where to find them if you don’t.

We look forward to sharing our Croatian dream house with you and know that you will love it every bit as much as we do.