✨Behind the Scenes at Cortijo Fruitful Hills – part 1

Hello, I’ve written several behind-the-scenes posts featuring co-owner/property manager Andrew – who is doing a stellar job. As co-owner, I thought it’s time I came out of hermit mode myself and shared a day in my life here at Cortijo Fruitful Hills. For anyone interested, including those contemplating life in Andalucía, this is also a glimpse behind the sunshine, sangria and swimming-pools version of Spain.

Fast Jet Performance

At the moment, I am immersed in the work of Tim Davies, a former RAF fast-jet pilot who spent twenty years flying the Tornado GR4 and Hawk, including a decade training pilots and instructors at the highest levels of tactical flying. He is now the founder of Fast Jet Performance, bringing that experience into his work on leadership, human performance and personal responsibility.

I am on my sixth listen to his book, The Five F’s: A Pilot’s Guide to Purpose, Precision, and Performance, and it is transforming me – and inspiring me to think more deeply about the next stages here at Cortijo Fruitful Hills.

We already know we have something special here, and our growing collection of five-star reviews repeatedly speaks of the tranquillity, quality and beauty of this place.

But with the way the world is moving, and the times that may lie ahead, I find myself once again pondering bigger questions. How do we steward something already good and make it exceptional? How can it rise up, serve and become an even greater blessing?

Psalm 23 came to mind, unbidden, as it often does:

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

We are surrounded by history, traditional Andalusian towns and a rich living culture. Beyond the gates is an extraordinary natural playground for outdoor adventure, including horse riding, hiking, cycling, mountain biking, climbing, motorcycling, off-road biking, quad biking and more…

I have M.E./Chronic Fatigue Syndrome quite severely, so I can’t do too much physically myself. It gives me a great respect and appreciation for those who are out in the world fighting the good fight, as they say – the warriors amongst us who push beyond their comfort zones, stand up and strive to make a difference.

When Andrew and I first started developing Cortijo Fruitful Hills six years ago, we said that we wanted to create something that could support leaders.

And this is where my heart still dwells – providing a landing place and networks to help strengthen noble-hearted leaders and those working on the front line: mature men and women who need a quality place to genuinely relax, reconnect with themselves and enjoy the natural playground right on our doorstep.

Then they can go back into whatever they need to face — hopefully rested, edified and strengthened, and perhaps even transformed by their time here.

There is a treasure trove here to work with, and Andrew and I are on the same page about that in our own way – aiming to work efficiently and wisely, while staying alert to what lies ahead rather than simply relying on what is already working.

So many ideas and possibilities land in my head that I can rarely keep up with myself.

Which is another way Tim Davies’ work is proving so valuable – helping me bring even more structure, discipline, clarity and accountability to support my wild feminine creative expression, ideas and circuit-blowing spiritual awareness.

That leads naturally into another major part of my life: ongoing self-realisation work.

Today it was Eckhart Tolle, with a useful reminder of a practice I return to again and again – bringing awareness back to the I Am presence and recognising the distinction between thought and the awareness that sees thought:

“What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.”

And then, to earthly matters – my to-do (and don’t-want-to-do!) list.

I needed more sacks of horse feed, so I headed into Coín town and stopped at our usual rustic agricultural warehouse.

Inside, there was a huge stash of algarroba seed pods (carob) which caught my attention. In a moment of transcendence, I felt radiant, delighted and joyful at seeing these remarkable gifts of nature. The shapes, colour, sheer amount of them, wondering where they came from and who had collected them, gave me a sense of wonder and awe..

I had a chat about the carob and horses with the Spanish man working there. To be frank, I didn’t understand everything he said, but we managed a friendly exchange, and his glow at being appreciated for his work made me smile.

I love these aspects of Spanish countryside-town life. In some ways, it feels like going back in time.

And it still amazes me that this rustic Andalucía exists only around 30 minutes from Marbella — internationally known for wealth, glamour and exclusivity – and around 30 minutes from Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport.

The airport handled 26.8 million passengers in 2025, including 22.3 million international passengers, yet within half an hour you can be standing in an old-fashioned agricultural shop surrounded by sacks of horse feed and a mountain of carob pods.

That contrast is one of the things I love most about living here.

Back Home – Sewing

We have bought yet more brand-new, good-quality white linen and laundry for all three apartments – fluffy towels, cotton pillowcases, pillows, sheets, duvet covers and more.

I have taken on the job of labelling everything with coloured cotton tape. It makes sorting easier and, hopefully, stops quite so much disappearing at the launderette.

I’m using Andrew’s late mother’s old sewing machine, which we inherited years ago.

It’s a Super Machine. Rather like my slightly older Rosso Dragon red 2015 Vespa GTS, it feels sturdy, solid, well-built and dependable.

Although every time a motorbike-touring guest stays at Cortijo Fruitful Hills – or I pass a motorbike out on one of the countryside roads – I dream of having increased physical energy levels and perhaps swapping the Vespa for a motorbike.

We live at the heart of some fantastic motorcycling country.

Recent guests from the UK: flew into Málaga, hired motorbikes near the airport, stayed in our Garden Apartment and spent an adventure-filled week exploring Andalucía.

It has been a long time since my Superbike School days in Australia and the long-distance road trips I used to take around New South Wales. If I get back onto a motorbike, following Tim Davies’ advice, I would want advanced training first. Motherhood and the times we live in has made me far more responsible!

Anyway, I’m leaving that idea to percolate and will see what transpires.

Meanwhile, Andrew had excitedly told me -twice – about the giant watermelon he’d discovered growing in his organic vegetable garden. He couldn’t wait to show me, so off I went to inspect it.

It is impressive.

I told him I think it could win a giant-watermelon competition.

While I was there, Andrew gave me some excess produce from the garden, which I decided to take to my acquaintances who own/run The View Healthy Food Truck (10 minutes away)

An excellent excuse to go out for dinner.

Grace, Moxie and Horses

Daughter Grace gave me a riding lesson recently on her horse Moxie.

I am still a bit of a scaredy-cat on a horse — particularly when the horse in question is a cheeky, lively five-year-old Arabian.

Grace is remarkably patient with me. We laugh a lot at my panicking and occasional highly ungraceful swearwords.

As a thank-you, I invited her to join me for dinner at the Healthy Food Truck.

There is much more I could say about horses, riding and the extraordinary equestrian world around us here.

That includes a recent experience which became a useful lesson in courage, creativity and freedom from other people’s approval.

But that belongs in Part Two.

For now, I’m off to finish the sewing, deliver the vegetables, enjoy dinner with Grace and then disappear back into hermit mode.

Thanks for reading. If you are interested, Part 2 is coming soon.

If you would like to learn more about how we ended up here (we moved from the UK 9 years ago), you can read: Our Unexpected Relocation to Spain. It starts off with me intuatively hearing the chorus words to an REM song…

“It’s the end of the world as we know it… and I feel fine”.

There is also lots more information about Cortijo Fruitful Hills throughout our website.