…which is why I ‘ve spent the last 3 hours listening to Talk Spite waiting for the World Cup squad announcement. As an Arsenal fan I have mixed feelings about Walcott but at this moment it looks like he won’t be going.
So while waiting I’ve made a FAQ page for the website, if you can think of anything I should add, let me know.
Oh well here’s to watching Heskey in the summer.
Went back to the UK through an ash window for a couple of days to collect my Mum for her annual visit. Had a good time but wow that traffic!
Went to a pub in London to meet my daughters and Ingrid, an ex-Au-pair we hadn’t seen for a long time and it was a good evening.
Sitting on the next table was Florence without her machine but with 9 guys in tow, I must admit I did stare a bit!
Florence Petty
Florence without her machine
Booted Eagle
Saw an amazing sight this morning, nine Booted Eagles hovering over Stig’s favourite Rabbit patch. The air was still, not a sound. All wildlife that knew what was good for them were laying low.
Booted Eagle
I meant to post these 2 pictures in the last blog but WordPress (the program that the blog is made with) decided that it was going to annoy me so I closed it down..there that showed it who’s boss and here are the pictures.
Olive trees just about to flower at Finca Arboleda
No reason for them except it’s a lovely Spring day and the garden looks pretty good. Noone staying at the moment, a real shame, best time of the year and the pool is 26 degrees what more can we offer you!!
Spring at the Old Stables Holiday villa in Vera
Andrew, you can relax now, I’ve done the gardening!
Just found some pictures in my spare camera and it made me realise what a varied winter we’d had.
Flood in January
Then we had a small hurricane, whirlwind or some such thing, shouldn’t that dish be on the roof!
Dish resting in the garden.
Then when Spring was just around the corner it was our turn to have some snow.
Snow on the Cabreras
Today we laid a small path through the Hotentots near the Stables.
New Path
New Path
Stig wasn't much help.
There was a great episode of Jamie Oliver on channel 4 last week. Although he wasn’t in Vera some of the scenery and of course the food was very similar.
I nicked this from their website and there is a link to see it again if you missed it at the foot of the page.
Jamie’s off to the Andalucian region of Spain, where Moorish influences make for more-ish cuisine. He begins his trip with a visit to matador school, where boys learn the art of bullfighting from as young as 10.
“I’ve been close to bulls,” says Jamie, “and it is one of the most fearful things that I’ve ever witnessed in my life.” He’s less impressed by their training props, however. “What I think is quite hilarious is that preparation… is a wheelbarrow with a pair of horns strapped to it,” he chuckles.
Next he samples some tradition tapas with fiery café owner Paprika (nicknamed so because she was born ‘red, like a chilli’). Forget burgers and fries – Andalucians claim the invention of fast food, with their flavoursome selections of cheese, meat and veg.
Inspired, Jamie knocks up his first dish, a tomato salad with chorizo. Served up in the Spanish hills with a little, or a large, glass of sherry, the chef is happy as Larry. “Bob’s your uncle, one of the best things in the world,” he grins.
You can see it here.
The First Draw….
What’s on offer? A Fantastic, New and Beautifully Appointed 3 Bedroom Villa plus a Fabulous Penthouse Apartment, again presented in perfect condition.
What’s the story? Our friends have owned and run a successful estate agents in Vera for the past 6 years. They have recently seen the Spanish property market go into decline with exchange rates falling against the Pound, making the purchase and owning of a Spanish property so much more expensive and difficult to achieve. With this in mind they decided to look at an alternative way of owning and marketing property here.
After taking extensive legal advice, they can now offer a way to “live the dream” without any major financial outlay. In fact the winner will receive both the above prizes completely free of all costs, fees or taxes. All the winner will have to do is come to Spain to collect the keys to the prizes and have them legally registered in their names. ( Full details can be found on the web-site ).
How does it work? Our friends offer tickets to a “party” at €30 each, at which the Free to Enter Raffle will be drawn with the two above properties as the prize. For each “Party Ticket” purchased you will automatically receive a free to enter prize draw raffle ticket registered with a unique number in your name, with your personal details. You don’t have to attend the party to win the raffle. The winner will be notified automatically.
Other benefits? The cost of the “Party Ticket”, can be offset against a stay here at Finca Arboleda, so even if you do not win the free to enter raffle prize, you can still visit this beautiful region of Spain, Stay in our Holiday Villa or Holiday Apartment and receive the value of the ticket as a discount off the cost of a weeks holiday here in the sun.
Terms & conditions apply.
We thank Maria and Eugene for this Bird Watching report they sent us.
We hope the Twitchers out there enjoy it.
Birding-report from finca arboleda
17december till 31 december 2009
We visited the following area’s:
Rio Antas, Rio Almanzora, Faro de Roldan, Cabo de Gata and some inland area’s.
Rio antas: The mouth of this river is on the coastal road between Garrucha and Villaricos. Take direction Puerta del Rey just north of the bridge and keep right until you reach the beach.
We found here: little brebe, great cormorant, mallard, shoveler, common pochard, coot, moorhen, yellow-legged gull, audouins gull, turnstone, sand martin, cetti’s warbler. Seaside: mediterranean gull.
If you are lucky ( we weren’t), there is a chance to find the penduline tit in the reed.
Following the coastal road to the north, you see very quick a wetland on the left.
( turn left at the roundabout for the best view). In and above the water: common shelduck, mallard, shoveler, common teal, lapwing, Sardinian warbler and dartfort warbler.
Rio almanzora
The channelled bed of the this river is just south of Villaricos.
The seaside was good for black-necked grebe, razorbill, black-backed and black-headed gull, sandwich tern.
We followed the southern embankment for some km’s direction Cuevas. There is hardly traffic here and you can stop everywhere. It was one of the best birdplaces this vacation: cattle egret, little egret, grey heron, black-winged stilt, greenshank, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, dunlin, kentish plover, little ringed plover, common snipe, jack snipe, pied wagtail, grey wagtail, rock pipit, meadow pipit’ bluethroat, crested lark, grey shrike, hoopoe, stone curlew, jackdaw, goldfich and greenfinch.
Faro de Roldan
On the coastal road south of Carbonera. You can drive to the faro, but there is also an interesting walktrack. We visited the faro with stormy weather: northern gannets and mediterranen shearwaters above the sea. Near hte rocks a colony of shags and peregrine falcon, black wheatear, red-legged partridge, serin and rockbunting in the mountains.
Cabo de gata
A cardrive of one hour from Finca Arboleda. Follow direction Retamar.
At 6 km’s after the Retamar roundabout, there is a visitors centre with parking.
Here starts a walkingtrack direction radio-beacon.
We were lucky to see here: sardinian warbler, lesser short-toed lark, thekla and crested lark, common krestel, hobby, golden eagle, black-bellied sandgrouse and a great spotted cuckoo.
In the salina’s were flamingo’s, spotted redshank, common redshank, grey and golden plover, audouins and slender-billed gull, curlew and black-tailed godwit.
Reaching the Cape, Maria was very lucky to discover some trumpeter finches !!
We saw only a few birds in the inland steppe-area’s like Cuevas de Los Ubedos, surroundings of Tabernas and Sierra de Maria.
( probably not so productive for birds in winter).
And at last: Michael showed us a photo of a hoopoe-nest in a plastis little barrel.
The photo was taken near his Finca in the month of december.
Nestplace and nesttime are very remarkable.
Maria van Balkom
Eugène van der Linden
When John and Lynn D. left yesterday it marked the end of an era. It was their 5th visit while they waited for their off-plan Villa to be built. During that time we’ve become good friends and the next time they visit Spain it will be us driving over to their new place. It was common in the early days for people to be on property visits while they stayed here but the dire state of the market now means although people would like to move out mainly it’s on hold….Until now!
Our friends have a novel idea. They are offering their new 3 bedroom Villa and a 2 bedroom penthouse Apartment as the prize in a free raffle, a free raffle? Well you have to buy a ticket to a party for £25 and then you get a free raffle ticket, with odds of around 24,000:1 for only buying 1 ticket it doesn’t sound too bad.
If you buy a ticket before you book we will give you £25 off a stay here, subject to T&Cs of course. Why not pop along to the property page and see what’s on offer, it should be available by the end of February.
