Now, where was I?

Ah, yes - we looked at many houses down in the south of Spain - in Almeria to be precise but I do use the term house loosely as most of them were piles of stones or had exterior walls but no interiors or had all walls but no roofs.

Anyway that was exactly what we werer looking for - an old ruin we could do up exactly as we wanted - on our limited budget - and then start our own little bed and breakfast empire.

Now, we knew the south was awash with b&bs', villas to rent and any number of apartments but we were going to be opening a different kind - my husband is an ambulance paramedic so to utilise his skills and harness mine we were going to open a b&b for families who had children with an illness that made it difficult for them to have a break in a hotel for example - somewhere mum and dad could come for a peaceful holiday knowing that their child would have someone on hand in case of an emergency and to help with the care of their child.

You will note that I am using the past tense here because the best laid plans....but that is for another time.