Four years ago my husband and I led a 'city life', he was a successful commercial photographer and I was the Director of the Netherlands Institute. But there was something unsatisfactory about our lives and we decided that we wanted to make a change. Not just a change of country but a bigger, all encompassing change of life and lifestyle. We wanted a different way of living, with a smaller carbon footprint and more connected to nature.

So we embarked on a journey of searching for that special place. High on our wish list was a place in a natural park, where we would have nature on our doorstep. That however was a difficult box to tick, as properties in nature reserves are scarce. During our search we somehow ended up in La Alpujarra and I am not sure whether we chose it or it chose us.

You would imagine that this gem in Southern Spain would attract many tourists but it actually doesn't and is therefore relatively unspoilt and peaceful. The small trails and old bridle paths that lead through fertile, green valleys and along rugged mountain tracks are definitely off the beaten track. It is a picturesque place where it feels like time stood still.

We exchanged our city life for a life in the mountains, we bought a traditional, stone built cortijo with 2 hectares of land. The house was ready to move in to but the land had been neglected for many years and it needed trees planting, a lot of water and tlc.

One of the reasons we wanted to live in nature was because of our two horses and our desire to go out on long rides. We wanted to be able to just ride out of our own gate into the natural park, and that we found!