BEAUTIFUL HOUSE SEA VIEWS WIFI

The house is near a bend on a steep hill with magnificent views eastwards. Rather than park on the steep drive to the locked garage we chose to reverse off the road up an adjacent steep gravel and grass track to be out of the way of local traffic. We recommend you hire an automatic: our VW Golf managed all the roads we took. For those unfamiliar with La Palma be prepared for the steepness of the hills all over the island. We estimated about a 50m elevation between the house and the local Spar which certainly got the heart pumping. The eastern side of the island is cloudier than the west but no problem just check the forecast to find the sunniest spot. The island is small enough for you to get anywhere in 1½ hours from the village as it is centrally located. When we were there they were doing a lot of road improvements and, unlike in the UK, managing to do so without causing huge hold-ups. We were there at the end of March and beginning of April and found the mobile oil-filled radiator provided was sufficient for the lounge but the remaining rooms could benefit from more heaters. While Spanish Television is highly entertaining you will soon appreciate listening to your own music on your own player while curled up in the cosy lounge with a glass of good local wine, some local cheese and a game of cards. We had an issue with the Wi-Fi when we arrived but Margot was very good and got it fixed by the following day. The bins in the road outside are emptied daily and recycling facilities are up the hill towards the village. As mentioned earlier the Spar supermarket is further up the hill and the staff were very helpful especially when it came to paying by credit card in Euros rather than Sterling, something the HiperDino in El Puerto did not want us to do. More generally, La Palma is a lovely non-touristy island and everyone we met was friendly and helpful. We can recommend the restaurant La Casa Volcano, the sweet black pudding was a revelation! If you are interested in textiles, check out the local museum in the village for some exquisite embroidery and the Silk museum in El Paso for a really interesting insight into how silk used to be made on the island. Other interesting places were El Molino which makes pottery in the style of the indigenous people of the island and Artefuego which is a glass workshop. So, an excellent place to base yourselves for a good holiday and three weeks is enough time to see nearly all the island has to offer.