Anyone who has bought property in Spain and has tried to convert or add on (be it only one wall) and to do so legally will doubtless have had the same experience. If I add to this the fact that my house, and later the next door guesthouse, is built partly into the 12th century walls of Tarifa, you can imagine the complications of negotiating your way through the regulations of the Bellas Artes de Cadiz, the equivalent of the National Trust. You are faced with an intricate web

Every so often it is totally wind-still in the evening. This is very often in combination with the full moon. At around 21.00 hrs (depending on the season) the sun is going down and the whole village is bathed in a pink glow. Our guests stand together in a hushed silence, imbibing the beauty of the moment, cameras at the ready. Thanks to Facebook, I am aware that that photograph is already winging its way to various countries and continents. They sip their pre-dinner drinks b

My son came to Tarifa first in 1986 to join a kindergarten school friend to set up a business in windsurf parts and sail repair. This was in the very early days of windsurfing. Mum and Dad came to visit (as Mums and Dads do) but Mum and Dad decided to stay (which not many Mums and Dads do!). We bought this ruin (‘well, said Dad, we are not actually buying a ruin, we are buying a view’) and spent the next few years applying for permission to rebuild. By the time we got thi

I have always been (and still am!) a ‘working woman’ – by choice! This is of course a ‘luxury situation’. Privileged to have had a good education and to have married the ‘man of my dreams’ with whom I had two sons, and who was totally supportive of my ambitions, it was then up to me to build a career alongside his, and later to find a job in whatever new country to which he was transferred. My jobs varied from being a Personal Assistant to a team of executives in Egypt (befor

Lunch on a Friday at Venta El Caseron, Los Badalejos : tel. 629886151 – Pedro Directions on leaving from Dar Cilla, Tarifa: My suggestion would be to leave at 10 a.m. and go down the hill to the traffic lights, turn right and head along the main street of Tarifa to the end where this road joins the N.340 and turn left in the direction of Cadiz. Shortly after this you see on your right the breakfast bar/shop called WET. It is easy to park here and enjoy a leisurely breakfast i

No view can beat that from the roof terrace of Dar Cilla, looking across to the mountains of the northern coast of Morocco with the shipping passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. At night the whole shoreline ‘on the other side’ is ablaze with lights- However, a completely different view from the apartments of El Molino (tel,679 94 14 27) in Vejer which look down over rolling hills to the whole coastline to the left and right of El Palmar was riveting as the sun went down.

What a fantastic day today. The wind has dropped completely, and the silence on waking was almost weird. The Moroccan shoreline is back in view (with the levante wind this disappears entirely), not as sharp as it can be, as when it is really clear we can see beyond the Rif mountains to four further ranges. The new harbour opposite (container terminal) is very clear. There is a large cruise ship passing by – I am always glad that I am on shore and that they are looking at me,

This was the day our Queen of the Netherlands abdicated and her son, Willem Alexander, was crowned King and his wife, Maxima, became Queen. Of course I should have enjoyed to be in Amsterdam for this historic event which was so wonderfully orchestrated. First the official events which were so dignified,: protocol was duly followed, but I am sure there were many with me who felt a tear spill over as Mother handed over to Son. Then the rest of the day was just a wonderful serie