Trouble in Paradise: Village House Update

We got back to Drobeta Turnu Severin and, of course, our beautiful village house, bought in 2021. And, as one would expect after leaving a house unattended for two years… we came back to plenty of trouble.

Minor trouble for the most part, but trouble nevertheless.

First of all – there were PLENTY of weeds grown everywhere. We had a neighbor help out a bit, trying to keep them somewhat under control, but it was still very bad.

An overgrown willow tree made everything look like a jungle. But a nice one, I would add. Our jungle.

Imagine – this was AFTER some maintenance. The back garden didn’t look much better either. On the contrary – the wooden poles were destroyed, just like the shade cover:

And we have an ever-growing pile of weeds:

But that’s not all! The pavers that we installed in the yard suffered some damage too. Most likely, because they were not installed well, water piled up in specific areas, resulting in sunken pavers. Not a pleasant sight, for sure:

Most of the wooden poles – both in the garden, as well as the back of the house – are rotten and broken by the weight of the plants they were supposed to support.

We had to cut most of the grapevines, as well as another plant to lighten the load, but that is something we have to replace. The weather is still scorching hot here, at the moment of writing, so we’re waiting for it to cool down.

One of the biggest problems was our well. We initially thought that the water pump stopped working. So I pulled it up (I had no idea what it looks like) only to see this:

In case it’s not obvious, the problem is not necessarily the pump not working, but the fact that it came out dry. Yup… our well had dried up!

We brought somebody in to dig more (apparently, ours wasn’t the only one suffering from this), but the men found out another problem: the walls of the well had sunken from the middle, leaving a gap of around 1 meter in between the top and bottom half.

In order to fix this, we had to order a replacement for those concrete rings (not really sure what they’re called), plus a full day’s worth of work from the team to install it, then dig down hoping to find water.

This was expensive and not a priority, so we left the well as it is for now, as we fortunately have running water anyway. But the well was used for watering the plants in the garden (and served as a much-welcome backup). Still… it was expensive, so not a priority.

This is not the first village house we bought. Before this nice one we made a lot of mistakes buying a dirt cheap one that proved to be more than we can handle. While we managed to sell it eventually, it was not pleasant. So I wrote an article for those looking to buy a dirt cheap village house in Romania sharing my experience so you don’t get burnt too.

Speaking of which…

Then came the fire

I won’t lie: it was pretty scary. Just a few days ago, a massive fire started to spread in the village.

Apparently, somebody decided to burn their trash in the back yard and things didn’t go well. That’s what happens when you combine an open fire with windy weather and plenty of dry weeds nearby.

The fire spread extremely fast, taking over the fields and burning down everything. The worst part is that it also spread towards the village, and just a few properties away from my village house.

Fortunately, I had a really long hose that played a vital role in controlling the fire, which was put off, Romanian-style, by the villagers (as the firefighters were battling an even larger area, but in the fields). Strange approach though – you’d guess they would put off the fire that threatens residential areas, though.

Here are some very short unedited clips that I filmed that day. I couldn’t film more because, well, you can imagine I was busy helping around, but it’s probably still enough:

The fire was eventually put off, but it burned down a HUGE area. It was insane how quickly it spread. It was scary.

The worst part is that the smell afterwards was so bad that, over the night, I woke up from my sleep because of the smell. I went back to my apartment in Drobeta, only to return two days after. And the smell of wet coals was still there. Incredible!

While this could happen anywhere, if living in rural Romania here in the Oltenia region is not your thing, you might want to check out my guide to living in a village in Transylvania instead.

The biggest problem: MOLD

Yup! Weeds and minor damage we can handle… but I was horrified to see mold growth inside the house.

Your clothes inside the closets had mold on them. So did the pillows, the mattresses and even some of the furniture.

Surprisingly, none of the walls had it. And, after a bit of research, I ended up concluding that it was actually mildew, not mold, which apparently is the better option of the two.

Still, we ended up throwing away the pillows, as well as a few clothes that looked really bad… then washed at really high temperature everything in the house, letting them dry up in direct sunlight.

The biggest problem were the mattresses. Since they’re really expensive to replace (and not looking that bad), we decided to spray them with anti-mold solutions and let them dry out in the sun. This lasted a few days, but weeks after doing this no new mildew/mold appeared.

We’ll check them out constantly, but this will have to do for now. It was, though, the most unpleasant surprise when we came back.

Things are starting to get better

Despite all the challenges, I still feel extremely happy when I visit the village house. Challenges are made to be overcome, after all. And, even though there was a lot of work (and probably even more left to do), things are starting to look better.

I finally managed to spend a night here at the village house, after more than two years. It was amazing: who knew that the sky actually has stars you can see? Hahaha!

The silence here, the nature, the sounds of chickens and birds, the wind rustling the leaves, the open space… all of these truly make me happy.

When I am here, at the village house, despite all the challenges, despite all the things that I lack, despite all the trouble I’ve been going through on a professional level in the past several months… I feel relaxed. I feel good. I feel happy.

Like a child receiving a candy, I often find myself looking out the window and smiling.

So, yes, there is hope here. Things are starting to get better. My wife and I worked hard to make this place livable again… and it was well worth it. I will leave some more photos below to end this on a happier, more optimistic note.

For starters, a before & after photo of the back yard with some cleaning done and the willow tree aptly trimmed by my wife:

Here are some other random photos that I took. Enjoy!

The next three photos show a slightly cleaner and definitely more weed-free yard area. I love to have a back yard and so much green stuff around!

Also, although it’s August, I did a bit of research about things we might still be able to grow. I planted some radishes, various herbs (like basil, rosemary, and so on), spinach and soon lettuce will follow. So far, the radishes are the only ones to sprout.

Our trusty gnome patiently awaited for our return. As a thank you, we also installed a few more solar lights. (I love solar lamps!)

Is living in a Romanian village house something you’d ever consider? Do you prefer the nature, despite all the challenges, or you’d rather spend your time in perfect, urban comfort?

Next… I might be able to go fishing again in a nearby village. It’s been a while since I went fishing!

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