Well, I always start my sentences with well.. I only hope I start them well!

I’ve just taken what feels to me like a huge step out of my private World into the real World, if only to allow myself to regress further into my own privacy – if none of that makes sense, basically I’ve bought a house in the country.

The country in question is Portugal and the house is called Quinta Linda – which in rough Portuguese means beautiful farm, and which is also my mother’s name, which is apt as she was a beautiful woman and I’ve no doubt she would have loved this farm.

The last month has been amazing – After some truly wet and cold days after leaving our winter retreat in Orgiva, in the Sierra Nevada, we loaded up old faithful “Aunt Bessy” my trusty ’86 VW camper and headed out of the mountains and into the rain – and what rain!

We finally, after many nights of sneezing and shaking reached the Atlantic near Lisboa, only 5 months later than planned and what a relieve to be in relaxed Portugal…