“This is a splendid compendium of a book. Both travelogue and autobiography, it is perhaps the most fascinating I have read in a long time. What's more it deals with an area almost untouched by other travel writers - that strip of southern Spanish coastline encompassing La Herradura, Almuñécar, Salobreña, and Motril. Writing with what amounts to almost a lifetime's experience of the area, the author (who first lived there in the 1960s) tells of its folklore and traditions, its food specialities and fiestas, and even offers a brief tutorial in how the locals catch fish. Nor is its history omitted, from the area's occupation by the Moors, via events that took place locally during Spain's tragic civil war, to its latter-day occupation by those from more northernly climates. An added bonus is that the book is well illustrated with photographs, including a number of the "before and after" kind. Having read and enjoyed it once, it is one I know I shall want to keep handy and will be dipping into many times more.”

Keith Harris, Books on Spain

"Spain was home in the late 1960s to foreign adventurers, hippies and Americans dodging the draft to Vietnam. Into this mix wandered Roy Nash, a 29-year-old Londoner, looking for easy living. His Shangri La was La Herradura, then an isolated fishing village south from Granada. Nash's memoirs, spanning nearly 40 years, bring to life an era when 60s pop culture, drugs and free-love collided with a little world where morals and behaviour had hitherto been repressed by Franco's regime. This is a colourful, amusing, evocative, yet unembellished recollection of lost times."
Spain Magazine, Oct 2004

“Roy Nash has written a witty and entertaining tale about living in the Costa del Sol in the 1960s. Spain in those days was the most backwards country in Europe; isolated, poor and suspicious. But you could buy a beer for two pesetas and Roy was happy to make it home, spending the next 20 years fishing, beachcombing, drinking coffee in the cafes and beer in the bars and happily doing whatever pleased him. This book is all about the peasant way of life that vanishes over that time. As such it is rather sad, but barrelling along in Roy’s own warts and all style it’s a terrific read, with a wonderful cast of characters that includes draft dodgers, talkative barbers and lots of hippies. While the end of a way of life is sad, the book perhaps dwells too much on what’s been lost – especially as it’s being marketed at those thinking of moving there – but that’s a minor quibble with a truly entertaining read.”
Christopher Nye, Everything Spain, September 2004