Subtitled (on some editions) ‘Dreams and disasters of life in a Spanish farmhouse’, I feared yet another story in which a hapless, hopeless owner writes of their own stupidity in buying a property without research or the ability to spot a money pit at ten paces. Add in what the author thinks of as amusing anecdotes involving references to local people  (in reality insulting and inaccurate stereotypes) and I’m usually ready to give in at around page six.

Happily, Ms Scott writes well (no surprise given her career as a journalist) and doesn’t (often) succumb to hyperbole or caracatures.

Given my opening comments, you might wonder why I chose this book in the first place. It’s because it’s about Andratx in Mallorca, a place I know very well and, in need of some light holiday reading whilst staying a short distance from the location she writes about, it seemed an interesting book to dip into, even if I’m not always enthralled by the genre.

In the event I enjoyed it. It covers a lot of ground: the house, the area, local restaurants I know, and some of the people she meets. It also touches on her career (including her work with the former King of Spain) and, best of all, the animals she meets and cares for.

Although the book was published over ten years ago, the immediate area she describes hasn’t changed much, although the wider surroundings are certainly more built up. Nevertheless it’s still an area where you can “get away from it all”, walk all day and rarely meet anyone. She refers to unwelcome wildlife and to forest fires and both are still sadly much in evidence. On the positive side, just as she describes, people and animals we’ve met have become friends.

A pleasant, lightish read reminding the reader of sunshine and holidays but which, inexplicably and suddenly, comes to an end with no warning.