When most people hear the word Ayurvedic, they think of medicine. But the ancient Indian tradition goes far deeper and can be applied to any area of life. In our materialistic modern world we seem to have lost sight of some of the true values of our forebears and perhaps the time is right to […]

I visit Almuñécar to remember one of the greatest lyrical writers on Spain
One December day in the 1930s a thin and ragged looking tramp arrived in the coastal village of Almuñécar with a violin tucked under his arm. Barely more than a youth with gangly limbs and piercing blue eyes, this seaside outpost represented the […]

A 400 year old olive mill is being restored by an Englishman as one of Spain’s foremost sustainable renovation projects.
Many of us who have moved to Spain end up taking on some sort of renovation project. For most it is a case of modernising a quaint village house or perhaps renovating a tumbledown […]

Jason Heppenstall travels to Toledo - the “Rome of Spain” - and ends up in a Brit bar like no other
AFTER two days on a British car ferry in the Bay of Biscay trying to spot elusive whales, I was in need of some firm ground to steady my legs and some decent Spanish food […]

Voluntary restraint can only go so far in reducing our plastic bag habit
When I was at university I had a friend who was a scientist. He told me excitedly one day that he was setting off on a small research vessel to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where they would put down a probe […]

Something nasty this way comes. Jason Heppenstall gets to grips with some invasive species.
THEY came by night. They came by day. Silently slipping over borders, stealthily avoiding detection. Some came by boat, others by plane. Only a few people knew about them. Still less cared. “It’s just not right, they don’t fit in here!” […]

Feb 2008
Jason Heppenstall remembers the toddler Molly May, who died in a tragic accident last week
Midnight in Órgiva. A few damp but spirited revellers stand outside the church as the bells ring out announcing a new year with all its possibilities and hopes. Among them are Lucy and John with their sleepy toddler Molly, […]

Meeting Michael Jacobs
It’s Friday morning in Jaen Province and I’m driving a Renault Twingo at speed through what looks like the largest olive grove on Earth. Sitting cramped up in the passenger seat is the writer and art historian Michael Jacobs. Bearded and genteel, and a wee bit tired from a late night at […]

With the restoration of the natural environment an urgent priority, I go to meet some inspirational people greening Spain.

Spain, it is often claimed, was once covered in a thick mantle of forest. By the time the Romans arrived most of these trees had already been cut down by the native Iberians and […]