Valencia, 2024

When I think of Valencia, I will always think of the colours first - rich orange and pastel lilac. The beautiful ochre spheres that hide in leaves all over the city, matched with the soft purple which bursts through the Jacarandas trees as they bloom with spring. Both can be found in the Turia park which snakes through the city like an inviting green belt. This abundance of greenery is one of the reasons that we were drawn to here, paired with the sea, the weather, and delicious wines of course.

This trip was unplanned, but after returning to the UK after 4 months away we just wanted to try something different. We found the Valencia forest school and after that we were sold! We booked our flights, booked our apartment (which we actually ended up cancelling) and that was it. We arrived on the Saturday, and by Monday morning we were waving off our eldest on the bus that headed out of the city to forest school, and dropping our youngest at his new montessori nursery. After spending the day running about the city sorting where we were going to live, and a few trips to IKEA, we sorted our bike rentals and just got into the swing of things. The Spanish culture is one that I have always enjoyed; a more relaxed way of life, a siesta break in the day, children welcome at restaurants after dark, and we have tried to embrace it all. Well, mostly, we all still like to be in bed by 10!