Victoria Twead

Whilst most people here in Spain are digging out their warm clothes in preparation for the winter, I am doing the very reverse. The coats and scarves are being packed away and the swimming stuff, shorts and T-shirts are coming

When we moved to our Spanish mountain village ten years ago, we soon became familiar with the families who lived here. All of them were friendly and charming and we enjoyed watching the kids grow as the years passed. Little

After 10 years in our Spanish mountain village, we know what to expect in summer. The village fills up with people we haven’t seen for a year as families arrive to escape the heat of the cities. Children, a foot

With all my thoughts and energies channelled into the launch of Two Old Fools in Spain Again, I haven’t taken much time off this summer. However the book is out now and, with the temperatures still soaring, Joe and I

Until the Spanish begin to neuter their cats, there will always be a huge feral population. When we moved to El Hoyo in 2004, we were surprised at how many cats roamed the village, but I guess we’re used to

When the long hot summer days arrive, so do our visitors, eager to share the Spanish sunshine and the peace and quiet of El Hoyo. My niece, Becky, comes every June, always alone. She’s not married, but has never been

Nobody enjoys queuing although most of us accept it as a necessary evil. Queuing and Joe are like cats and water; he hates it. He grumbles and heckles loudly which makes me shrivel with embarrassment as people turn to stare.

“I can’t concentrate! Why don’t the Spanish stop their dogs barking?” I was trying to write the next chapter for my latest Old Fools book, but the constant background noise was spoiling my concentration. There are plenty of dogs in

It began with a polite knock on the door. Joe answered it and found two smiling men in uniform waiting on the doorstep. “Good morning,” said the one with the clipboard, “we are sorry for disturbing you, we’ve come to

One could almost hear the howls of anguish from expats across Europe this month, and Joe’s was probably the loudest. We’d been warned, although I don’t think anybody really believed it was going to happen. But it did. One day