Iain Duncan has managed to pack a lot more in to his 44 years than most people, but his passion for music has remained constant throughout his many adventures. Today, as he relaxes on a warm spring afternoon sipping a coffee in a pretty pavement café, it’s not hard to see why he considers himself a lucky man. 

We help find the ideal property for a couple who want to enjoy the hustle and bustle of daily life in a typical Andalucían village.

Dear Property Clinic,

We have set our hearts on living in a typical Andalucían village, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of life and where we can integrate with our Spanish neighbours and feel part of the community. This is a second home for us, so a house that has been fully restored would be ideal but I believe there are sometimes bargains to be had if you are prepared to consider a house that needs work doing to it. We are keen on DIY so that idea does not frighten us too much and it would give us ample opportunity to practice our Spanish. We have a budget of £180,000 but that would have to include any work that needed to be done.

John and Sally Smart, Edgbaston

Ever since Seve Ballesteros led the European team to victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup, held at Spain’s world-famous Valderrama golf club on the Costa del Sol’s Sotogrande Estate, golf has proved to be the major source of tourism revenue for the country. And today the appetite for property set within golfing developments continues unabated.

A six-month career break on the Costa del Sol has turned into a complete life change for Marisa Cano.

When Marisa Cano arrived in southern Spain in spring 2002 she didn’t plan to stay longer than a few months. “I was bored with my job so I left and decided to take a ‘career break’,” she says. “What I didn’t bargain on was a career change.”

Marisa, 25, was born and brought up in Hornchurch in Essex, but with a Spanish father, the Costa del Sol was familiar ground. “We used to come here every summer on holiday – we have relatives in Algeciras, just around the bay from Gibraltar,” Marisa says.

The atmospheric streets of Andalucía’s small towns and villages are the best places in all of Spain to experience the Semana Santa, a week-long religious festival celebrated during Easter.

IT SEEMS THAT whichever way I turn, the narrow streets are blocked by a double-column of pointy-hooded men, each bearing an enormous burning candle. Pressed up against the darkened buildings are thousands of people watching in silence as the unbroken stream of marchers slowly winds its way through the cobbled lanes.

I have only been in Córdoba a few hours and am, perhaps foolishly, attempting to negotiate my way through the city’s old quarter, a tangle of narrow lanes that is confusing enough for visitors at the best of times.

A passion for walking led Matthew Parris to a great discovery – his new home in the Catalunyan mountains.

If Matthew Parris hadn’t been curious enough to follow a worn-out path in the Spanish Pyrenees one spring morning a few years ago, he wouldn’t be where he is now – waking up to spectacular views of the Collsacabra mountain range from a magnificent medieval masía in the heart of Catalunya. 

Looking for a new Spanish home for their family, the Hoggs discovered an old ruin next to the Rio Genal. Ian Spratt explains how they transformed a crumbling shell into an exotic temple to self-sufficient living.

Finca Hornillo can be found tucked into an oxbow on the Rio Genal. To the south of this quaint villa is the majestic Mount Crestallina, a rugged limestone mass that dominates the skyline. A few kilometres north is the pretty little mountain village of Gaucin, which was once a haven for brandy and tobacco smugglers who moved their contraband through the surrounding hills. Now, however, a growing community of artists and musicians from across Europe populate its narrow winding streets.