I love my lemon tree! It never ceases, everytime I catch sight of it, to cause me wonder; at mother nature´s abundance and generosity! Always laden with bright yellow fruit, my lemon tree provides me, and everyone I know, with bright,tangy lemons, all year long. To me, nothing epitomises Spain and, indeed, Rustic Escapes in Spain, like the lemon tree. We ensure we have at least one in each of our properties and I know that our guests, especially our...
What fantastic weather! I can´t believe its January! Just look at that beautiful pool. I spent the last couple of days of December decorating for New Year´s Eve when all four of our lovely Rustic Escapes in the Valencian countryside were booked for three day escapes over the New Year. The weather was fantastic. The photo of the sea was taken from the ´Cabo de San Antonio, in Denia, between our three Alicante based Rustic Escapes: Castell de Mar, Ca Olivar...
Spring Cottage and Monk House; the best places to spend Christmas!. I´ve just returned from decorating Spring Cottage and Monk House, our two beautiful Rustic Escapes in West Sussex. There really isn´t anywhere as perfect as England at Christmas time! I enjoyed cosy evenings in front of the fire in Spring Cottage and shopping in Petworth, at our fascinating fifteenth century Monk House.. Both Spring Cottage and Monk House are booked for this Christmas. ¡ There´s still time to book for next...
How I love Rustic Escapes at Christmas! They´re truly beautiful. Every year , as December approaches, I look forward, with joy and excitement, to 'Decoration Day' ; when the whole team comes together to start our preparations for Christmas and the New Year. Last night we all decorated here in Valencia and next week I shall start my visits, personally, to every one of our beautiful Rustic Escapes to help our local representatives get them ready for our Christmas and...
Your dog will love Monk House, our new Rustic Escape! I have spent two weeks this month preparing our new Rustic Escape, Monk House, in the beautiful rural town of Petworth, West Sussex, and was joined by my sister and her dog, Finlay. The house is ideal for dogs as it has a beautiful walled garden and a 50 metre lawn which runs all the way down to the lovely Shimmings´valley. To my delight, when it was time for ´walkies´we followed...
If you´re a Rustic Escapes sort of person, as I am, you will, I know, be feeling increasingly aghast at the advertising on television. as Christmas time approaches, by the large supermarkets; earnest in their drive to make us believe Joy at Christmas will be found down their aisles, with rows and rows of packaged, mass produced, highly processed Christmas fare. I went to the market and I just had to share with you real Joy. Food markets in Spain...
Wow what weather! And how beautiful it is here in Finestrat! I popped down to La Casa de la Campana, our Rustic Escapes´ property in the little mountain village of Finestrat, Alicante, yet only 7 km from the beautiful seafront of Villajoyosa and the bustling metropolis of Benidorm; and it was glorious weather-mid-November and yet like summer! You have just got to come here this Christmas or New Year! Look how sunny and lovely La Casa de la Campana looked...
As promised here´s how to prepare delicious dates ready for Christmas. You can eat them straight off the tree. However, as parrots and all sorts of undesirable rodents also like dates it is best to pick them when they are still orange. Also, should it rain heavily the dates can be ruined overnight. Once you´ve ¨shimiedup¨ the palm tree (rather you than me!) you can use a sort of metal rake to remove the dates from the branches. Once you...
I can´t believe it! Fifteen years watching while squawking green parrots decimate my date tree; feasting every autumn on my dates. Days and days of nibbled yellow dates lying on my lawn, attracting all sorts of other nasty nibblers! I was always told that the dates in my tree were not the edible kind; the wrong kind; the yellow kind...all manner of reasons (was it me?!!) why my dates were just not good enough. Somehow defective. Story of my life!...
What a lovely weekend with Rustic Escapes! Naturally I was on the hunt for witnessing more countryside traditions and enjoyed watching a local harvesting his olive crop, in traditional fashion; with a long stick and a net below the beautiful olive green tree. However, the highspot of the weekend, some will be interested to know, was a sunset walk in Benidorm. It does have the most amazingly long beach and by this time of the year is beautifully peaceful; the...
