Now, some of you may not think very highly of Lanzarote as a perfect getaway destination - but I am going to prove to you that you shouldn't always judge a place by the holiday brochures, and that if you can find your way off the beaten track, then it is well worth a visit.
We found a perfect little private villa via www.ownersdirect.co.uk which was ideal for just the two of us. It is called "The Pool House" and I think you can see why...
... and yes, that is the sea in the background. We were based in a very small village at the north east end of the island, well away from all the bustling resorts, with only cactus, flowers and sea views for neighbours. Surrounding The Pool House are the owners carefully tended gardens (the owners are next door, but kept their discreet distance), in which grew some lovely...
...chillies, which we were encouraged to help ourselves to - and did on several occasions for gorgeous home cooked meals. Whilst to the side of the villa was a great little barbeque area, shaded by a pergola over which grew...
... a very prolific passion fruit plant (bush? climber? tree?). In addition, and just to add to the grace and beauty of the place, there were also many beautiful...
...flowers; so I was able to indulge my passion for photography too.
The owners of the villa had two dogs - lovely friendly creatures (rescue dogs - abandoned and wild running dogs can be a problem on the island, and there is a marvellous sanctuary where all the strays are looked after and hopefully eventually find new homes, like these two) who would come visit us occasionally. They were also great guard dogs - sounding the alarm if anyone came near the property at night.
Introducing...
Buster
and his faithful friend
Collie
(who is a little old and doddery, so we affectionately called her "Collie Wobbles")
...and they helped us both get over our own dog abandonment issues, and we rewarded them with much fuss.
While we were there we had use of a car - essential when you are stuck out in the middle of nowhere - and toured much of the island. Sadly we didn't manage to see everything we wanted to, another couple of weeks would have been just perfect, but here are the edited highlights of our journeying, and living proof that Lanzarote is a beautiful island, and not just a tourist trap...
...and in case you're wondering - yes, we did spend plenty of time in that pool - swimming, mucking about, and bobbing on lilos; and yes, it did rain too! (But it didn't dampen our spirits and we had a wonderful time.)
