recent blogs

our front doors…

our front doors…

...deserve a post of their very own. They are now the most beautiful doors, but it's taken a real labour of love, because when we bought the house, they definitely weren't beautiful. In fact, they looked so awful and dilapidated that the intention was to have them...

heating the house

heating the house

We have no central heating in the house. We could have had it installed when the renovation was happening, but having experienced how the heat is retained over the spring/summer/into autumn months, we decided against the expense. We also decided against air con, which...

fishy ceramics

fishy ceramics

We have a Chinese Bazaar supermarket in our time, which is proving to be a bit of a treasure trove. We often find ourselves short of screws or nails, or can't find the mallet or need a tiny bit more spray paint and with our nearest big DIY store being half an hour...

andalucian reno journey #3 : main bathroom

andalucian reno journey #3 : main bathroom

It's been a while since I've done a post about our renovation journey, because we've so busy since actually moving into the house - at long last! - on 26th August. The builders finally departed a week later (but will be returning to finish the kitchen), so we've been...

sunday roast cravings : satisfied

sunday roast cravings : satisfied

We love our new lives in Andalucia and are immersing ourselves as much as we possibly can, mid-renovation. Sometimes though, especially in the cooler months - and this is why my thoughts are turning to this now, as we enter October - we crave certain things that were...

la fonda heritage hotel : marbella old town

la fonda heritage hotel : marbella old town

Located in the heart of the beautiful old town of Marbella, where purple bougainvillea adorn the traditional whitewashed houses, La Fonda is an oasis where you can relax in the utmost comfort. Behind the walls of La Fonda is a historical jewel that hides the...

pizza express : alcaidesa

pizza express : alcaidesa

*This is NOT a sponsored blog post. We paid in full for all food and drink.* Living in Andalucia, we are certainly not short of excellent food options. Obviously tapas restaurants abound, and we've yet to find one that isn't really good quality, most being pretty...

andalucian reno journey #3 : stairs

andalucian reno journey #3 : stairs

The stairs up to the roof terrace, from the first floor, were awful. Just awful. Steep, enclosed and dark. They were so awful in fact, that we gave our builders a bit of a head-scratcher and said we wanted to investigate accessing the roof terrace from the internal...

one night in estepona

one night in estepona

Recently, we were lucky to be able to escape the chaos of our renovation and have a night in Estepona, where we met an old Manchester friend, who was out visiting family. We'd only drive around Estepona before, and had only really seen any of it, on programmes like "A...

spanish tiles

spanish tiles

Our lovely Andalucian townhouse, when we bought it, was full of tiles. But unfortunately, most weren't those beautiful Spanish tiles that we all swoon over. They were mostly patterned, but arranged in the most migraine inducing way - a really terrible mix of colours...