Channel 4 A place in the sun CAVE HOUSES

[pirate]

Mmmmm not much on Andalucia, except the cave house.

Any body on here got a cave house, I wonder how good they are.

I was told Andalucia had lots of underground water, does this mean the surface is porous?

I wouldn`t fancy a porous roof if this is the case.

Anybody know?

Sorry I dont know how this got here it should have been a reply to "A place in the sun"

[katy]

They do look good for a holiday home, quite charming, bit bleak outside, ie. no trees, plants etc. there are a few on here who live in them and sell them who maybe would give you an independant opinion?

[Retro P]

I suppose they're ok if you just use them as weekend cottages, or if you're a caveman/woman, other than that I can't see them being fit or healthy for modern human habitation, of course they're usually very cheap and this, I suppose is the attraction, I personally wouldn't want to live in a hole in the ground, still that's just my view!

[Troglodyfae]

You should have known that I would reply to this one I live in a cave house in the Granada region, and you are quite right in saying that they do make nice holiday homes, and many of them are used in this way. There are also very many that are lived in all year round.

My cave house is lived in all year round, and we currently have 20 rooms and have plans to dig out more. We have lots of plants and trees around us, and we are at the top of a mountain looking down into a valley. Despite the recent cold and wet weather in this area, we have not found it necessary to light the wood burner. They are not dark and dismal and they are often portrayed we actually have 7 windows which let in a great deal of light. Because of the layout of our cave house none of the rooms go back further than three deep and these are bedrooms.

The general maintenance on a cave house is minimal, we do not suffer from storm damage with roof tiles having to be replaced, nor do we suffer with damp or water intrusion in bad weather. Free standing furniture does not have to be used, a lot of our wardrobes have actually been dug out of the rock and door frames fitted, some have walk in wardrobes.

As for them being a hole in the ground, well yes they are, but I like to think of our house as a bit quirky, with lots of character. We have very good sized rooms, my bedroom is 30m2, and my kitchen 25m2 with modern fitted units, and modern appliances. We also have the benefit of having quite a lot of land and a great deal of peace and quiet and most of all privacy. In the summer time the cave house is comfortably cool, so we do not need air con and in the winter, due to the thickness of the walls heating rarely has to be put on, just really when the temp falls below zero.

And yes I also sell them and they are very popular, many come from the UK and other countries just for a look as they cannot imagine how it would be to live in cave. I recently arranged for two girls from Sweden to stay in a cave, as they had heard about them and had come to stay in Malaga for a few weeks and asked me if I could possibly arrange for them to stay in a cave. They were enchanted and also very surprised that the cave they were staying in was so comfortable.

I am sure I could extol their virtues a great deal more but as an opinion not an epistle was asked for I will end here

[gretch]

I’ve visited quite a few cave houses and I agree with everything Troglodyfae has to say, they’re more or less like an ordinary house but without a back door or windows (and yet some have)!
I’ve been in one that has a stunning bathroom as modern as most, including a sunken oval bath, the only thing that gives it away are the exposed pipes.

I’d love a cave house but my partner suffers from claustrophobia……..............…Buġġer

gretch

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

Sounds great Trog

Can me and SWMBO come and stay with you for a couple of nights please.

[daisylou]

Wow...it sounds great. I really can't imagine what a cave house looks like and would love to have a look around one.....one day

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

More on Cave Houses.

Once we went to Cooper Peedy in Australia, where they mine Opals.

It's so hot most folk live underground Some have pools, and there's even a church.

[Troglodyfae]

Cooper Peedy is on of the places I have featured on my site as there is a cave hotel there. If anyone would like to look around the interiors of cave house I can send you some links. Each cave house is unique, and there are so all have very different features. I can send links via PM, as I not sure they would be allowed here so I will not chance my luck.

[daisylou]

Ooh yes please can you send me the link, thankyou

[masterob]

Troglodyfae, sorry to be a pedant but, I trust you have spelt it correctly on your site! It´s Cooba Pedy.
I visited it over thirty years ago when I lived in Australia and I thought it was a god-awful place in the middle of nowhere. Above ground it was little more than hundreds of mounds of spoil dug out of the ground by miners in search of opals. Hopefully, tourism has improved the place in the intervening years!

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

G'day Masterrob

When I was there in 74 all the signposts spelt it Cooper. On my map it's Cooper.
I expect the Cooba variation is the aborigonal spelling. (But I don't think they had written language, did they?).
If you google, both spellings come up.

Cooper/ Cooba
Oedipus/Schmeedipus
As long as you love your mother, what does it matter

[masterob]

Rick. For what it´s worth, Google brings up Coober Pedy not Cooper Pedy. I have also failed to find it shown as Cooper on any map I have. Could you be mistaking it for Cooper´s Creek which is roughly in the same region (given the size of Aussie)
When I was there in the late 60s it was sign posted Coober Pedy but today, the South Australia State Government list it as Cooba Pedy but then Ayres Rock is no longer called that but Uluru! Times change!

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

Rob

You're right. I think I was drunk at the time. Wasn't Coopers Creek where Burke and Wills died, having failed to find the provisions left buried by the "Dig" Tree.

Sounds like we were down under about the same time. 1971 -1974. Traveled all over. What did you think of it. I thought it was ace. Felt like I was on holiday for three years. We lived in Sydney, near the Zoo. Went back for three months in the 90's Would like to go again.

[Grouser]

Troglodyfae, do you know the cave town of Goreme in Turkey? I visited it many years ago. A fantastic place of pointed sandstone spires carved into houses and churches. the stone so soft you could carve it with a stick. Also a fortress nearby that was entirely carved out of a vertical outcrop, with seven floors of rooms in it and an underground town that the christian population took refuge in during times of persecution. Never seen anywhere else like it.
Please PM me your web link.

[dido72]

I would like to see the links too please

[Retro P]

Perhaps I don't have enough imagination, I've never actually visited a cave house, I envisage something dark and gloomy, to be honest if you have twenty rooms and only seven windows, then thirteen of these rooms must be in darkness much of the time, as I said I haven't visited one so perhaps I should, I still can't see myself using one though, one mans meat though etc, if your're satisfied with it good for you!

As a matter of interest what do cave houses go for these days?

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

As a matter of interest what do cave houses go for these days?

They just went up 10%

[BENIDORM]

We have stayed in a few cave houses, certainly different, I thought they

were great, but my Wife has always been nervous about them..

.Isn't there a problem with carbon monoxide building up?....I suppose

everyone has alarms fitted.etc..

[Retro P]

As a matter of interest what do cave houses go for these days?

They just went up 10%