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There was a time I believed air conditioning was the holy grail. One press of a button and your house becomes a cool cocoon. Until I realised that cocoon doesn’t just drain your electricity bill — it dulls your senses too. Everything goes quiet, dry, and vaguely unnatural. Worse still: you lose the rhythm. Regular readers of this column will know I gave up on air conditioning a while ago. […]
Sometimes I think my garden has more ambition than I do. While I sit in a plastic chair with a book, trying to pretend I’m doing nothing, the weeds are multiplying, the grapevines are making a run for the neighbours, and the lemon tree clearly has no grasp of the word “pruning.” And yet — or perhaps because of it — this chaos is my favourite place. If there’s one […]
After three weeks away, you return with a head full of impressions, a suitcase full of laundry, and… a house that clearly hasn’t been waiting up for you. My finca just outside Marbella seemed mostly relieved I was back — as if walls, doors and pot plants are also entitled to emotional closure. And truth be told: life with the Spanish summer heat isn’t just about air-con and siestas. It’s […]
It started with a drop of sweat. Not on my forehead — on a basil leaf. That’s when I knew: we were heading for trouble. How do you help your kitchen garden survive the heat? In my previous story, I shared how my first balcony harvest taught me to slow down, observe, and marvel. It was a meditative experience, crowned with a plate of pasta fresca. But while I was […]
June has something magical about it. Everything grows, blooms, bursts with life. Except my courgettes. But we’ll get to that. Back in March, I wrote—full of hope—about my microhuerto on the balcony of my finca. A few pots, some bags of organic soil, and seeds I wasn’t entirely convinced would become more than decorative optimism. The Spanish sun gave it her all, the rain did next to nothing, and I… […]
After previous pieces on clever and sustainable ways to keep your home cool, this time I paid a visit to Hans Striekwold of Quuick – a man who knows more than most about tap water in Spain. They were already in place, as if they knew company was coming. Kees and Coco, two French bulldogs with the stare of a customs officer and the patience of a cathedral. They did […]
Living in Spain sounds idyllic. The sun, the view, the lavender in your garden. And the idea of living with nature? Very romantic. But no one tells you that sometimes, the garden moves inside. On tiny feet. My first Spanish spring was glorious—until one morning I lifted the sugar bowl and discovered it had been relocated. Not physically, but in terms of occupancy. An ant colony had organised itself so […]
There we go again. You’re heading off. To the Netherlands, a few weeks with family, or just escaping the tourist chaos for a bit. Your house stays behind. Silent. Warm. And in the corner: that one monstera, your beloved kentia, maybe even a few defiant little cuttings. They look at you the way a dog might—only with leaves. And you think, “They’ll be fine.” Spoiler: they often aren’t. Which is […]
That first summer in my Spanish home, I slept the way an Englishman thinks one should sleep: windows shut, duvet on, fan in the corner, air conditioning set to polite chill. The result? Three broken nights, a creaky back, and the distinct feeling of living in a pensioner’s fridge. A cooling bedroom without air conditioning? Come again? It took me a while to get it. In Spain, you don’t fight […]
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