Touching Paradise

In the early 1960s my paternal grandparents, Gwilym and Doris Davies, bought a plot of land in the mountains above Fuengirola, on the Costa del Sol. Here, they transformed a barren wilderness into the grounds of a villa Mar-y-Sierra, and its attendant bungalow La Vista, complete with luxurious gardens, and a screen of trees. By 1963 the house was complete, and here they would live until returning to the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, a period of around 15 years. This book is a Special Edition to enlarge upon the previously published Little Book, and allow the landscape-orientated photographs to be seen in greater detail, as well as to include an additional 20 or so photographs, including a section dedicated to their cats, with more space for personal memories and reminiscences. At least four times in my early childhood I would visit Mar-y-Sierra, and it was as natural to me as driving by car to South Wales to visit my great aunt, or to Biddulph to visit my mother's parents. The memories I have are mainly from 1976, when I celebrated my sixth birthday out there, and 1977, which was the last occasion we would visit.