My daughter wrote from El Canuelo, near Periana, in the hills above Malaga.

“Just waking up from a lovely deep sleep and from my bed I can see the pinky orange of the morning horizon, stretching over the blue and sleepy valley. Not yet fully light at 8 o’ clock. No sound apart from a few birds chattering excitedly outside the window.

Our house is charming – very rustic and old fashioned and the grounds are beautiful. We arrived at around 4pm yesterday and had the most wonderful lunch outside in the gardens. Seafood, aubergine fritter, jamon, queso, olives and the most garlicky tomato salad I’ve ever had. Huge chunks of the stuff scattered all over! It was sunny and bright but frequent gusts of wind sent napkins flying. When the wind dropped it felt gloriously warm but with the wind you will feel cold so make sure you bring plenty of warm layers.

The house is also a little cold, being all stone so I recommend you bring slippers and warm socks.

We’re so far managing to get by with our broken Spanish – the lovely Manolo speaks not a word of English.

We’re going to the local village today for their annual olive oil festival!

Really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Think you’ll love it here.”

I started to pack my bag.