description

And no, it is not spelled incorrectly. Karma is a Buddhist concept that essentially says that your actions and words will create your destiny while ‘Calma’ is a Spanish word that means the calm and tranquility that often goes missing in our modern lives. But if you fuse them into one, then you get a house whose ‘Karma’ is destined to be ‘Calma’, a place of peace and tranquility and there you have it, Finca La Kalma. It is a sweet idea that is reflected in nearly every detail that makes up this lovely home. That serene moment you get out of your car, you find a Koi pond with a Buddha presiding over the rippling waters. And beside the pond, there is a koi hatchery, a canoe filled with more rippling water where the smaller Koi grow to be adults in a never-ending cycle of life. In the distance, between the bonsai trees, sitting in peaceful repose is a beautifully designed casa del campo. The long sloping roof with an upstair terrace and sea-views, has been made into an abode of great comfort and taste. There is a 4m wide tiled promenade that leads you to the entrance. To the left is a dining area, with a 5 x 3 mt retractable pergola for shade in the summer sun and breakfasting al-fresco on a May morning. Beside this is a wood-pannelled portico, 5 mts by 3.5 mt that, if you listen carefully, will gently ask you to install windows and French doors to make it into a most beautiful, enclosed conservatory. And when one steps inside, the sensation is of arriving home. There is a wood pannelled entrance foyer with white-washed side-boards, then an office/working area and a cosy sofa zone in the corner under an impressively high, wood pannelled ceiling. Entrance to the spacious kitchen is via a wood-moulded ornamental lintel into a rustic kitchen with every modern convenience but still retaining the charm of a country house and, it must be said, with a distinctly poetic Morrocan-style fireplace. From the open plan living area, there is a generous double bedroom and the second bedroom is located on the mezzanine accessed by a wide spiral stairwell. The second bedroom is also generous in dimesion and leads onto a terrace with views of the coast and the Foradada, a most wonderfully transcendent mountain located near the coastal town of San Carles de La Rapita and famous for its winding walk to the top where they say you can glimpse the other-worldly realm of Siddharta on a good day. Meanwhile back at Finca La Kalma, we exit the house to find an ample storage shed to the side of 12m2 which houses a potent solar system with 8 gel batteries, no maintenance, and a combined inverter and charge controller that delivers 6kw to the main house drawing power from 12 x 300w solar panels. The Buddha has indeed blessed this system with the power to keep the sacred lights on and the dishwasher working. Then we have two most unsual but ever so slightly magical doors that seem to be stuck onto the huge stone terraces and seem to have no purpose nor reason. But they do! Behind one is a generator for power when the sun does not shine and behind the other is a state of the art second solar system that also has an inverter, 3 lithium batteries and 6 solar panels. But why are there two solar systems on one finca? The answer is the second system powers a beautifully adapted mobile home that has its own lounge, kitchen, storage area, bathroom and double bedroom with a lovely wooden pergola and with olive trees galore to give shade to the various seating areas around this quaint guest quarters. In fact there is a second mobile home that is in reasonable order but would require some loving care and spiritual attention to bring it up to the standard of the rest of the property. Then water is supplied from water collection systems from the rain that delivers 5000l to the cistern in the main house and 3000l to the cistern in the mobile home. And, of course, there is a local water service that brings water on demand.