FSBO Substantial, traditionally built, stone house for sale by owner in Hydra Island Greece, offering: open plan living space on ground floor with entrance from street to reception area, through arch to sitting room with wood-burning fireplace, high wooden-boarded & exposed beam ceiling; hand cut, stone floor; metre thick walls with deep window & door alcoves that are shaped as curves at the top. Stairs to first floor; dining area sufficient for 8 at table with windows overlooking back garden and glazed doors to patio; kitchen to end of dining area; from central upper landing with double doors to front balcony overlooking street; from on side of landing to master bedroom with ensuite shower room; to otherside of landing to 2nd double bedroom. There is a freshwater cisterna, and all utilities are connected to the main town supplies. Structurally in very sound condition, being sold as furnished (not owner's personal belonging), ready to move into. About a 10 minute easy walk from the port, spectacular westerly views of the  valley, town, the craggy hill separating this valley from the Kala Pigadi valley, excellent sunsets and pretty sight of the central and west side of Hydra Harbour.

This is a large property of 178sqm of living space on 2 floors in a plot of 450sqm, so it is underbuilt according to the 50:50 ratio and is within the town plan so could be extended by another 47sqm of living space. The description here is based on the current configuration of use but there is plenty of scope for easily managed restructuring and/or extension.

Location & Approach. Our house for sale is on the side of the amphitheatre mountains on the east side of Hydra town. The mountain side behind the house protects from cold easterly winter winds and the house is far enough along this stretch of mountain so it doesn't directly attract the full glare of the high summer sun. The area is residential with a good mix of age groups. From the port you walk towards the back of the town to the sports field and then follow the easy zig-zag road, quite a bit of which is lined with pine trees, to the house. The front of the house from both floors has unhindered views of the town and the mid-range craggy hills that separate this valley from the main central valley. The sun rises behind the house in the morning so you can see it lighting the valley from bed in both bedrooms, and the sun sets opposite and to the right as you look out of the front windows.

Directly in front of the house there is a small "platia" where the street is particularly wide. There is a public bench and this is a favourite evening haunt of some of the local yaya's (grandmothers) who congregate to swap news and watch the sunset occasionally. There is a pleasent, secure, neighbourhood watch atmosphere in the area without it being overbearing.

The house is entered directly from the street but it should be noted that there is a meter deep strip of front boundary land that is walled so you don't feel as though you are entering right off the pavement.

You walk into a large open-plan living space which is currently divided with the first two thirds as a reception living room, through a wide stone arch to a more intimate sitting area. The back wall of the reception area opposite the front door has the freshwater cisterna behind it (it's top forms the floor of the dining area above). If you look in the photo below you can see the white painted alcove in the wall which in less modern times would have had a tap so that water could be obtained without having to go upstairs to the well head. The flooring is of the very old, and now almost unobtainable, hand hewn marble stone (the same as the historical stone used to pave the port). The ceiling is higher than a usual room height. The front facing windows are of normal size with internal shutters but the surrounding walls are shaped so as to curve over the top of the windows so they appear larger than they are. This is a characteristic of this age of building and was done with the intention of letting as much light in as possible but at the same time keep the amount of glass exposed to a minimum, which combined with the metre thick stone walls is very good for insulation (both heat and cold). The ceiling has thick beams supporting painted wooden boards. There is no wood-worm or deterioration. The end third of this floor, through the stone arch and up a small step, features a wood burning traditional fireplace and cut into the back wall there are stone stairs to the upper level.

At the top of the stairs (with wooden banister and finials) you find the open plan dining area and kitchen to the rear of the house overlooking the back garden. There is more than enough space for a large dining table to seat 8 people very comfortably. The kitchen as with most on Hydra is quite small but compact with adequate cupboards, sink, larder fridge/freezer. The floor of the dining area is the roof of the freshwater cisterna and the well head is conveniently positioned so as not to intrude in the room. The end of this room (dining area end) is fully glazed with doors out to a small patio and then steps to the first level of the back garden.

From the centre of the rear room (at the top of the stairs) there is an upper landing that divides the front upper floor. It is a good wide landing with double glazed doors opening to a balcony at the front of the house as you can see from the photo above. There are two large double bedrooms either side of the landing. One is slightly larger than the other and has an ensuite shower and WC room. The smaller of the two bedrooms has windows facing the front of the house plus a second one that looks into the patio at the rear. Both the bedrooms have wall to wall, floor to ceiling wardrobes.

From the patio, there are steps to the garden at the rear of the property. The entire garden is walled and is very private. On the first level of the garden there is a small square outside shower/WC. The roof of the house is about a metre higher than this level of the garden. Steps lead up to the upper level which is currently planted with fruit trees.

The current layout of the house may not suit everyone, so it should be noted that with very little trouble and/or expense, some modifications could be made to include a 2nd bathroom/utility room so that it could be used by family and guests without the necessity to pass through the bedroom to reach the existing bathroom. It would be easy to build on half of the patio with a door from the remaining part of the patio to allow access for guests and possibly another door into it by replacing the rear window in the second bedroom, which would effectively create an ensuite shower room for this bedroom too.

If a third bedroom or office/study area is required, it would not take too much trouble to put up a wall and door from the front wall across to the back wall, using the first third of the main entry reception room. If you are looking at the building from the front, the new internal wall could be placed between the window and the front door. This would give a good sized double bedroom, cause the front door to be in the corner of the reception/entrance room, but would still allow the reception room to be a useable space leading through to the more intimate sitting room.

You will find air-conditioning units on both floors, which provide heating during the winter as well as cooling during the summer.

Please click thumbnails below to enlarge or see full photo gallery for more.