"Stands apart...This Englishman's castle might have started as a dream, but it has ended up being an extraordinary reality". ("Sunday Times"). In a class of its own Guardian So infectious is his enthusiasm for L'Avenc and the dramatic, unvisited landscape of Collsacabra, that I wanted to leave at once to explore it ... And it's all just a few miles away from the Costa Brava! -- Christopher Hudson Daily Mail Stands apart... This Englishman's castle might have started as a dream, but it has ended up being an extraordinary reality Sunday Times

After Cambridge Matthew Parris worked for the Foreign Office before becoming a Conservative MP in 1979. He resigned seven years later, after which he was the parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times for thirteen years. He is now a columnist for The Times and the Spectator, and is also a frequent broadcaster. His highly acclaimed autobiography was published by Viking in 2002, and his most recent book Parting Shots, a collection of diplomats' final despatches, is now available as a Penguin paperback. He divides his time between a flat in London, a house in his former Derbyshire constituency, and the house in Spain which is the subject of this book.