Amazing mountain views: Private rural villa in Andalucia with own pool. Sleeps 6

About Shona

Hi I'm Sheila and with my husband, owner of Bajo La Maroma in Canillas de Aceituno and La Rijana in Almunecar. We have 3 children, the eldest two work in finance in London and the youngest as an accounts analyst in Madrid.

Why Shona chose Canillas de Aceituno

We bought our villa in Canillas de Aceituno about 20 years ago. We had lived in Peru and spoke an amount of Spanish, and were looking for a holiday home in the sun, not too far away from UK and in a Spanish speaking area, where we could take our 3 young children. The southern coast of Spain was the obvious answer. We didn't want to be involved in the British invasion along the coast west of Malaga and came across the wonderful white hillside village of Canillas de Aceituno. The villa just outside Canillas was perfect - in a beautiful setting, with its own pool and far enough away from neighbours not to have to worry about the noise the children made as they played in the pool all day long! The traditional whitewashed village of Canillas, just 2 minutes away, was full of charm and character and the people there very friendly. Not only that, but the coast was just half an hour away, so we could still go down to the sea, water park, horse riding, go-carting etc and had lots of shops, supermarkets and restaurants available should we need them.

What makes this Villa unique

Time flies and so have the 'children' but we still adore going out to the villa. Despite living in a village in UK, there is no silence there that compares with the peace in the Andalucian hills around Canillas and the blackness of the sky for star-gazing. You really feel that you are getting away from it all, and without the distraction of TV, you seem to return to the simple life and can actually unwind; read all those books you've been meaning to; exercise your artistic, literary or photographic skills or do some bird-watching (don't forget the binoculars). If you should want it though, the village is just 2 minutes away, the local town 20 minutes and Malaga less than an hour. The high vaulted and beamed ceilings give the place real character and now with the modernisation and open plan style, the traditional and modern are perfectly combined. I love to see the sun rise over the mountain (La Maroma - the highest in the Axarquia) and at the end of the day, take my G+T and watch as the rocky face of El Penon turns through a range of golden hues, ending rose-red in the evening sun. (I've tried to mirror this gorgeous colour in the tiles of the en-suite bathroom which looks out to the mountains.) After that, we BBQ, then maybe watch for shooting stars and take a midnight swim. It is all so beautiful, that I hate having to leave, and just long for the next trip back!