The Storm

We have not managed to get away from the business much this year. Will and I run a design business. We specialise in hand made bespoke kitchens that Will designs on his drawing board - he is a technophobe and will not touch a computer! Of course it is not just kitchens but all other furniture too and we buy contemporary furniture from both Italy and Germany. We got hit with a double wammy this year what the the recession and then the alterations to the road outside our shop which went on for months meaning that we got no passing trade and people were unable to actually get to us even if they wanted to. I got to work one morning to find that I had to climb over a barrier to get to the door!!

Our business however will enable us to design and make all the woodwork for our project. Pippa has used chestnut for her doors and windows which is lovely and timeless but also rather expensive. Some of the other projects I have seen have used local carpenters and I am not sure that the client got what they were expecting. Much of it is pine and I am not a lover of pine in its new form - bright and yellow and not very subtle.

Our first trip this year was at the end of January, beginning of February. It was cold and wet apart from one day when we managed to go out wild asparagus hunting. We spent the entire week looking for wood to put on the fire, cooking, eating, drinking and reading. We left in a hail storm. How amusing: people only ever think of Spain as hot but we have seen more inclement weather than clement I think. We returned for ten days in late September leaving warm autumn sun behind us in Cambridge. We flew to Seville arriving around 9.30 pm and then drove to Pippa's at Finca al Manzil. As we got within sight (or it would have been sight had it not been midnight and pitch black) Will turned the windscreen wipers on. We were greeted by a laughing Pippa and Manfred who before poring us a large glass of wine, informed us that this was the first rain since they had seen us last. Har bloody har I thought. We have suffered the 'barbecue' summer that had been dreadful and now we were getting away for some more of the same. Of course they needed the rain as the countryside was parched and there was little grazing for the horses and donkeys.



When we got up the following morning it was bright and warm so after breakfast Pippa, Will and I went for a stroll to have a look at a new build down the lane that had just had a natural pool installed.


On our way there we commented on the insects in Pippa's pool and decided that on our return we would have to give it a clean. By the time we got back the sky had darkened and it looked like rain. Before we knew it the rain swept over the finca followed by crashing thunder and lightning. Dry slopes turned to rivers, mud and debris came sliding down the mountain and then the hail settled all around making it look more like a winter scene than early autumn. Pippa thought the storm lasted for about 15 minutes but I am sure it was much, much longer. It was the biggest storm that any of us had ever seen and really quite exciting! It had also been pretty local; Montanchez was hit and some of the house apparently flooded but no serious damage was done. The next day was hot and sunny and that was how it stayed for the rest of our stay. Unfortunately the pool needed to be drained as horse and donkey poo had been swept of the pasture and into the pool leaving it a brown muddy mess. The other amazing thing was that four days later,I looked under the mud and tree debris that had ended up by the wall of the finca and there I found hail stones!

We love it