more fino

Another place where we stopped for a fino (this became quite a habit!) An old favourite, Hostal Empuries, near the roman site at Empuries. The building dates from the 20's and the interior is an elegant mix of beachy scrapwood and contemporary design. On a good day the view stretches over the dunes across the bay towards Cadaques. Altogether a gentler place than the Parador at Aiguablava, but these contrasts are what I love about this part of Spain.

hello again

Hello neglected blog! I have just got back from a short break in Spain where I actually saw the sun!
We spent some time visiting favourite places and exploring some new. Including this fabulous modernist hotel Parador Aiguablava where we stopped for a fino and to gawp in amazement at the view and the architecture.

I discovered how to do instagram  - you can find me here @roddyandginger

new broom

Yes, I have a thing about brushes, useful, tufted, and their sole purpose is to improve or transform.
I wandered into brush heaven this week, Brodie & Middleton on Drury Lane. Brushes for every creative purpose, flat, wavy, stiff, pointy, soft, so many! I bought a wide copper bound beauty which I use for brushing around my desk and ridding myself of tiny annoying bits of stuff.
I have also renewed the household brushes, sweeping leaves is just a bit better when you use a brush with a fish on it (from a Harringtons, a splendid hardware shop in Broadstairs) and a proper broom from the local high street bucket shop. Also quite handy for getting from A to B.

On the subject of flying, I am off to Spain for a week. I may blog, I may tweet and I aim to get to grips with Instagram and Pinterest. Or I may just take time out from all of that and do very little!

spain 6 ...drinking

We have a new bar, ok it's a shed down by the river and while you are drinking your mojito the mosquitos are making a meal of your ankles but it's a welcome addition to the sleepy village and there are great views.

spain 5 ... shopping

fantastic tomatoes, local bread, red espadrilles, dip dyed wrap from the market (now an all over grey colour, should not have put it on a hot wash) back to school books, spanish paint brushes with copper trim, really looking forward to painting round corners.

spain 4 ... wind

it was the right sort of wind on the beach for kite surfing and the right sort of wind for the coolest sunshade ever - an extendable tent pole, a white sheet and some clothes pegs.

spain 3 .... vintage

There is a very robust, larger than life quality about the vintage furniture to be found near us in Spain which I love. If I had a giant shed to furnish this is where I would go. Ultima Parada (Last Stop) housed in a vast old ceramics warehouse on the road to La Bisbal. They sell a fine selection of industrial relics, sturdy tables, chairs and eclectic lighting. They also have their own elegantly scruffy cafe, DejaVu where the very chairs you are sitting on are available to buy, and from the end of September a sunday flea market.

spain 2 ... gardening

we set out to buy a lemon tree and were distracted by the dahlias and the giant cacti at the garden shop. We have a cactus in the garden which very occasionally flowers in the dark to attract the moths and night insects - quite spooky but very beautiful.

spain 1....escape

it was hot so we spent the day in the hills above Girona, we drove up and up until we reached... a giant mobile phone mast ... oh well. On our way down we had a picnic near this ramshackle cottage with its own tiny chapel, the perfect escape and a very good signal!

easter break

We turned our backs on Catalonia and took a short break in the far south west this Easter. And the wind was definitely in from Africa, this wild and beautiful area of Atlantic Andalucia lived up to its reputation as the windiest corner of Spain (the right sort of wind, happy kite surfers!).  It was easy to see how the wind influences the landscape, new windmills stretch across every hillside, the pine trees are squat and rounded, the sand blown half way up the hillsides to form Sahara like dunes (as my husband pointed out not unlike Ogmore in Wales where he used to play as a child, just substitute the view of Morocco for Port Talbot steel works and there you go!)

We stayed in Vejer de la Frontera a classic Andalucian hill top village, the sparkling white streets literally swept clean by the wind and the houses closed and secret. The sparse black and white of the architecture was perked up by fragrant orange trees and tiled courtyards filled with plants, spiky or succulent to survive the chilling winds and scorching summer sun. Vejer was recovering from its Easter festivities so was very quiet during the day, just the occasional burst of Flamenco from iron barred windows.

Our home for the week was one of Vejer's most atmospheric houses tucked away under the castle walls in the oldest part of the town. This very special and beautiful house owned by photographer Christina Wilson and journalist and broadcaster Robert Elms is in parts over 1000 years old, a tiny maze of whitewashed rooms, cobbled hallways and ancient steps built around a courtyard, simply furnished with great style and charm and plenty of Spain based reading material, six days was not enough!