Patience and trust have got us though the last month of nervous waiting. Due to the vendor's habitation tax liabilities, there was a mix up where the existing ruin didn't quite tally with the administrations old records of the former riad. Therefore after handing over our hard earned cash, it took about a month until we received the signed and stamped papers. However, the papers have finally arrived and the title is registered with the Conservation Fonciere, to sighs of relief all round. In the meantime, Grant has been busy preparing design layout ideas for the new house. Skype and email really are wonderful things and I wonder how a project abroad such as this would have been possible for us to contemplate before the internet, certainly it would not have been quick and would have necessitated many trips to Marrakech for meetings.
Its all about maximising the courtyard and room sizes in as logical a layout as possible. As exciting and enjoyable as the design phase is, designing a riad from scratch is no easy task. There is no flexibility with the outer walls as there would be when designing a detached house, so its a bit like a rubix cube where if you move one wall or room, it has a knock on effect to an adjacent room which could either be above, below or to either side.
