About the groves
Trigono - The Triangle
The Triangle was the first piece of land purchased and made an ideal temporay (caravan)
home as it was close to the main road, which was quieter in 1999 than now.
Comprising 700 sq metres of flat land, With 10 mature olive trees, it is semi- wild
and is the garden of Trigono-Lamda.
In December low growing plants cover the ground in yellow and by early May
a riot of flowers of varying sizes and colours are in bloom, in contrast to the
surrounding neatly tilled land.
Lamda Olive Grove
Lamda Olive Grove comprises 70 mature olive trees, some over 100 years old.
66 trees bear small olives olives which produce high quality olive oil.
There are 4 eating olive trees (kalamata Olives are famous) as well as walnut trees
and wild fig trees.
The Lemon Grove
Photo by Romano Pedetti
Bordered at the top by an unmade farm road and at the bottom by a stream, the Lemon Grove, covering 10,000 sq metres is flat and fertile. Above the planted area is an unplanted 2,000 sq metre terrace, on which sits a small farm building.
Petralofos
Above the main grove is the "Upper land" - 4,100 sq metres of stony ground designated as meadow land and now named Petalofos (stony hill). 4 Strema is the minimum land size for building in rural areas and hopefully electicity and water will eventaully reach this area so that a small house could be built, nestling into the south-facing area. The lemon grove and Petralofos were originally a single plot and I believe the small road through was made between 1945 and 1969, presumably to give better access to surrounding properties.
Ithaka - The Lemon Grove Building
It had never seemed necessary to name the building at the Lemon Grove, but in February 2007, on reading the English translation of a poem by Konstantino Kavarfy, the Name "Ithaka", being the island home that Odysseous went through so many trials to return to, seemed highly appropriate. So it has now been named with signs on the west wall and at the entrance to the grove.Renovation
The building had suffered subsidence in one corner during an earthquake.
The shutters were old;
there were no windows and swallows had nested inside the building, which housed various domestic
items used over the years but now discarded. The first job was to reinforce the foundations, then earthquake proof by stripping down to the breeze blocks,
and encasing in steel mesh. The walls were then rendered and coated with water resistant paint.
Additions to Ithaki
The window opening on the North side was replaced by a glass paned window with outer shutters while that on the South side was converted into a doorway and fitted with French Windows and outer shutters made locally to a simple design similar to the originals. The original door on the East side was also converted to French Windows with shutters. A small "bathroom" was added with a front terrace facing east, and a cesspool installed to the North of the building. The floors and terrace were tiled with pale green Spanish tiles, and wiring was installed to run electricity from a generator. By May 2000, the "house" could be used.