G & S Villa in Pinoso (El Pinos) in the Alicante Region.

Pinoso otherwise known as El Pinos, Between Alicante & Murcia.

We can be contacted Via Snail Mail at -

Mr & Mrs G Newell
P/O Box 193
03650, Pinoso
Alicante
Spain

Mobile - 693239123

To check the weather forecast for Pinoso click HERE

To see the Pinoso home page (in English) click HERE.

For Water Treatment & Water Softeners click HERE

Here are a few pictures taken over the past several weeks.

How to pick Almonds!

Chico in the pool!!

Take a Quad Trip around the land!!

Another Quad Trip - In HD!!

Another update 2 years later!! July 2019

The Ford collection now includes the "Big Beast" Wildtrak Ranger along with two matching quads to replace the ol Bombardiers.

27th June 2017

Obviously I have not updated this for well over a year!! My brother got married last year. All nieces and families have visited. The new Tourneo went after one year and was replaced with a 7 seater Ford C Max Grande, very handy! and more recently I let the Mercedes SLK go to be replaced with the new Ford Mustang! Yes I finally have an American Muscle car (5litre V8) loads of toys and Wow does it go!!! Discretion means I can not reveal some of the speeds I have achieved! Not the biggest Engine I have owned (Rolls Royce 7.2) & (DeVille 5.3) but fastest by far.

29th November. Well a lot has happened since the last report! My brother came & went, he is now on a date in Argentina! Olivia & Mark came for 6 days & brought the news that she is expecting their baby around end of May, needless to say Shelagh is Thrilled! After we took them to the airport we were delayed returning home as we went via the nearest Ford garage to order a new Tourneo Connect to replace our white one. We got home to discover that there had been a incredible Hail storm around our local area, the stones were the size of tennis balls! The roof of the garage & house suffered dozens of broken tiles, the pool cover looked like it had been machine gunned!! & the Mitsubishi was a virtual write-off as repairs would have come to over 2,400 Euros. There was other damage as well, luckily the dogs managed to shelter behind the garage wall so were OK. We later learned that many animals had been killed & several farm workers taken to hospital. Every house in the the local villages were damaged so it was a busy time for roofers! Fortunately that is behind us & as a consequence Shelagh also has a new car & we decided to have a car port built to protect both new cars from the Summer sun & any future hail!!

This IS a hail stone!!!

Taking delivery of new Tourneo, Rear doors on both sides!!

A very holy pool cover!

Shelaghs turn for a new car!!

Tucked up on first night in the new car port..

25th September. Since the Wedding we have been rather busy. Our friends Mike & Jane came to stay for a few days & we will see them again before they return to the UK. My Brother Mike is on his way to see us here for the 1st time since we moved in! Sharon & her daughter Lily came to stay for what turned out to be an action filled W/E Mostly down to the Quad bike, but best leave that subject!!

Lily, George & Sharon. Plus Honey on the side!

Tres Chicas!!

Pistol Packin Mamma!!

Resting after the Gunfight!

Lily, Shelagh & Sharon.

2nd Sept. 2013. The most recent event. Shelagh & I were invited to a Spanish wedding reception. Our friend Consuelo´s daughter was getting married (also Consuelo by name! confusing!!) to Diego, the recption was at the Volvo Ocean Club in Alicante Port.

I put one picture here which if you click on it will take you to several more.

These are the parents & Groom & Bride.

Jose Luis, Diego, Consuelo Jnr, Consuelo Snr.

2nd Sept. 2013. Well, it has been a while since I updated here!! Olivia & Mark have been & gone & are due back in about 4 weeks. The usual Spanish Summer is still with us & currently we are harvesting our Almonds, making use of a trailer to go with the Quad!

We also had a small crop of Peaches from a branch grafted on to an Almond tree - weird!!

Late August I went in the SLK to Malaga, the first decent drive it has had since I bought it!! Behaved perfectly.

I´d gone down to see my brother - Mike, who lives in Mijas also his daughter (my niece/Godaughter, Helen) Who was staying at her holiday home nearby with her 2b children, Josh & Jessica.

Here is a ´Before & After´ of myself & Mike

And one with Helen -

we had a great time catching up & decided not to leave it so long before the next visit.

Thanks to Mike for arranging 2 affable house guests!!

5TH May 2013. Normal service resumes!! Sunny warm days are back, just in time for a recent visit from Bill & Maureen - always a laugh!! Out to the local Chinese for a Menu Del Dia, always very tasty..

25th April 2013. Ooops - spoke too soon - week of crap weather started!!!

19th April 2013. Seems like Summer has arrived with a vengeance, beautiful days & getting full use from the pool. Just updated the Spring page with some more nice pictures.

Have a new shed & terrace area!! Click on picture to take you to more Pics..

Just a bit of Nonsense!! A strange looking Lemon - courtesy Mike & Jane.

27th January 2013. Well, here we are, start of another year. A few really nice sunny days but a bit windy over the past week or so! Have been on the roof to replace a few tiles that blew off!! We fostered a little black doge while he was awaiting onward transport to his forever home in Scotland! Then we fell for Waldo, a great big lovely dog due to be put to sleep, He just arrived from the Malaga region & settled in with the others very well. The blossom is out & the sun is shining - Great...

This is Joe, shortly off to Scotland.

Here is Waldo, under one year old!! & settled down nicely.

29th December 2012. On Monday last I returned to Spain from a 6 day foray to the UK. I drove there in my Tourneo (rear seats removed) Two days of driving, 1,000 Kms each day - especially tiring when you are on your own! Then spent 5 days clearing out Shelagh¨s 4 bed family home in Sutton - 50 years of ·Stuff·!!! Seems like her parents never threw anything away!! However with the help of Olivia & Mark for 4 days, plus variety of charity organisations & a 3 day bonfire, job finally sorted by the following Saturday. I drove back to Spain, fully laden on the Sunday & Monday. Arriving thoroughly knackered & now await the results of the various camera flashes that I had prompted! However with the house cleared & Shelaghs Mum in a local Seniors Facility we are looking forward to a quick sale!!

Message for Bill - No more bandwidth problems from here on...

2nd October 2012. - Well the previous SLK has gone & as a treat we now have the latest model, the Blue Efficiency - slightly misleading as it is Silver!! Picked it up in Barcelona on the day of the worst weather in Spain for decades!! Driving in muddy river beds in a new car is not fun!! Got home 4 hours late with one real dirty car!! All cleaned now though..

At this point I have not driven the car!

In the showroom awaiting the rain!!

Here we are a few hundred Km later having had it´s first wash!!

more Info/pics HERE

August 2012 - Tragic start to the month, our beloved Chico ran out of the gate as we came home at night & was hit by a passing car and killed outright. It is so quiet here without him. Sorely missed.

1st July 2012. Just passing through, a friend of a friend needed a bed & kennel for the night! Fred & Huxley (the dog!) are on a European 3 month tour from the USA. Brave boy.. Good luck to you Fred on your travels.

June 2012. A weeks visit from Olivia overlapping with her 3 triplet girl friends going back 30 years to their Brownie days. Four 36 year old - difficult but I came through unscathed!

Click here or on Picture to see more.

May 2012. Our second visit from our óld´ Panther friends Jim & Gill. Very enjoyable relaxing time with glorious weather, it´s what it´s all about!!

More of same HERE::

May 2012. Well Summer seems to have arrived & the swimming pool has been in action since the end of April. Our UK guests are arriving soon, meanwhile we have had a nice few days with friends from the coast.

Ahh good here come the drinks!!

Cheers Mike...

Cheers Jane...

23rd February 2012. As everyone in Europe will know, there has been an unusually cold spell through the new year, this has finally passed (we hope!!) The Nature page has been updated with some nice pics of the blossom. One of our dogs, Rex has been having treatment for Leishmaniasis which is a disease spread by the bite of the female sandfly and can be fatal, however he has responded well & seems to back to his old form.

Here is Shelagh along one of our trees that is now in blossom with loads of bees buzzing around.

And now we have a convertible after a break of 4 years!

28th December 2011. Well, another year over! We had a great summer this year with pool swimming through to November. Then we picked our Olives and had them processed in to enough extra virgin olive oil to see us through another year. It was nice to see our friends who came to stay & to hear from so many over the Christmas period - how did we manage before the Net??? The buds are forming on the Almond trees so we expect to see the blossom out in the next 6 weeks or so, a sure sign that those long halcyon days of summer are on their way back!! Looking forward to seeing our regular visitors & maybe a few new ones next year....................

10th October 2011. Olivia came in August for Fiesta week & really enjoyed it. August as usual was very hot & this continued through September. I picked up Mike & Jane from airport at Alicante & stayed at theirs fir a couple of nights as I did a small building job for them. They then came here for a couple of night before returning to the UK last Sunday. October is continuing with the hot & sunny theme!! Today being 37% currently!! We took our harvest of 220Kg of Almonds to the bodega today & will be paid in due course!!

We have also put in some more plants & gravel near our ´new´terrace -

7th August 2011. Olivia here for 2 weeks managing the Fiesta week for the first time & thoroughly enjoying herself.

Couple of short videos -

Bull Run

Fiesta Parade.

21st July 2011. A fairly busy month! Mike & Jane came with Tom, their dog for a few days & all the woofers renewed their acquaintance & got on very well. We had a really nice menu Del Dia at Pompei in Pinoso - only complaint - too much food! We had been for a ´Fiesta´ day meal with friends in Ubeda, they spent most of their life living in Mexico as lthough he is Spanish & she is American! Very interesting day.

5th July 2011. Our friend Jean, from Lingfield is here for a week & today we had a visit from Bill & Maureen also from Lingfield!! Thanks for the Water Melon & Booze, hope the building work went OK..

The ´Lingfield´Three... (4 counting Honey!!)

18th June 2011. A surprise call from our old friend & GP Iain who was staying with friends in Alicante on Holiday. 6 for Lunch?? No problem!! So yesterday was pretty hectic, but everyone got on OK & we had to hold on to Rafas otherwise I think he might have got smuggled away!!!

From Left to right . Iain, Fran, Antonia, Shelagh, Peter, Joy & Pauline - me taking pic not seen!

Looks like a go at Synchronised swimming.

Nuff said!!! and her name is Joy...

Pauline trying to keep Rafas!!!

14th June 2011. Sadly the short time Jim & Gill were here has come to an end. We all had a great time with Olivia joining us for a short stay, she will be back in August & we are already looking forward to the next visit from the ´Ballantynes of Windsor´.. Click on picture to go to more pictures.

6th June 2011. Well, here we are celebrating 3 years since moving in to Amarillo - where does the time go!! Puppy free zone at the moment, just taking a break - seems quiet with just 5 dogs!!

17th May 2011. Looks like I´ve been a bit lapse with the updates!! Mike & Jane paid a visit & we have firm bookings for the Summer from , Jean, Jim & Gill & of course, Olivia. Les & Pearl may get down for some R & R.. We are also expecting to see Bill & Maureen while they are in Spain.

The sale of 91 actually happened!! End of an Era...

5th January 2011. Welcome to the New Year, so far we are enjoying a milder winter than we have for past 2 years, Shelagh is still ´Puppy farming´!!! & loving it..

24th December 2010. I drove to the UK recently to sort out the last remaining things at 91, hopefully a sale is finally going through! - We´ll see. Anyway looks like I left just in time to miss the recent snow! The trip went well & the Ford Tourneo did the job well, especially on return trip - filled to its boots!! Thanks to Les for helping me out, rewarded with a car full of various Lima/Kallista parts & ancillary items (junk!!). 2 car loads of various Jag. & DV, J72 items to the dump & the rest back here to Spain! (more junk!!)

9th October 2010. We have just had a visit from friend Jackie for a week, lots of laughs & lots of sunshine.

29th Sept 2010. Well where does the time go? Another glorious summer, with a bust September, Olivia came for a week followed closely by a visit from Mike & Jane for a few days, then Geoff & Pat came up for 3 days & now we are waiting for a friend of Shelaghs to arrive today from the UK. All that & we still managed to harvest our almonds. Plus we currently have 2 small shepherd type pups on foster as well as our full complement of 5 dogs! We added to the Mits. Colt with a Ford Tourneo, very popular in Spain on account of its carrying capacity.

latest pic with new Toy!!

19th June 2010. Haven´t reported for a while!! Since the puppies mentioned below we fostered 3 other sisters & now they have gone to France. John & Sue Gibson popped up while they were staying on the coast. Mike & Jane also came up from the coast & stayed a couple of nights, great fun. Elaine is now here for her annual break! & hopefully we will see Bill & Maureen soon. Picture just for you Maureen!!! It is now over 2 years since we moved in!! Time certainly flies when you´re enjoying yourself.. As a bye the bye, both our plum trees have a bumper crop this year - plums, plums, plums!!!

23rd April 2010. Shelagh is well in to looking after puppies while they wait to be re-homed. The latest 2 are off to Belgium at the end of week & the pic below shows Angelita having the drive of her life!!!

April 4th 2010. During March we had Olivia over to stay for a week & also had a quick visit from Mike & Jane. We are now in to nice long sunny days, even better with the clock change. In to shorts & out with the sun lotion!! Finally got the Mitsubishi on to Spanish registration!! Dogs coming and going, as usual, so life goes on!!

February 8th 2010. Well in to the new year now & hopefully the worst of winter is behind us! Shelagh has been on a short visit to UK doing a ´Mum visit´. Olivia has also been here for her first of several visits this year. We were also pleasantly surprised with an impromptu visit from Bill & Maureen - I now need an i-pod touch!! We have fitted a water softener (much help from Chris, see link above) & replaced our worn out dishwasher. Me buying on-line from a Spanish outlet... Well it all worked out & it was delivered from Barcelona!! A Dutch couple have bought the new-build next door as a holiday home & are currently having a swimming pool built in readiness for those lovely 40% plus summer days that are on their way.

December 23rd 2009. So another month passes, we finished collecting our olives and managed a total of 350kg, which translated in to 55 litres of Extra Virgin olive Oil!! A big thank you to everyone that sent Christmas greeting either via snail Mail or the Web. We followed the weather news in the Uk which really was no worse than a lot of other European countries. We got off fairly lightly here with just a dusting of snow, which can be seen on the following pics. Best Festive Wishes to anyone reading this!!

Christmas 2009.

November 21st. Shelagh would like to thank those friends who sent her birthday cards & email greetings for today. She is a happy bunny as she has just had a swim on her birthday!! Then back to picking Olives!! Tonight we have reserved a local hostelry, not normally open on Saturdays, and are going there with some local friends.

19th November 2009. Les & Pearl have now left & the Hotel is closed for the rest of this year!! Still enjoying the Indian Summer with recent temperatures in to the mid 30´s.. I have a new (old) toy to mess about with on the land, as it is not a road legal version. If I manage to get to grips with it the road version will come later!! Naturally it is really aggravating the dogs at the moment!! Hopefully they will get used to it. We have started collecting our Olives & have taken the first batch of 100Kg to be processed in to Extra Virgin olive Oil - which we will collect in first week of Jan. We are still using the oil from last years crop so are quite pleased with the harvest.

1st November 2009. Having made previous statement - we are now expecting Les & Pearl on Saturday for a week or so, along with short visits from Mike & Jane & Bob & Jean. We have been going through a very summery time with temps in the sun getting over 40%, let´s hope it stays. We are still getting in our daily swims, possibly because we have had a heat exchanger fitted along with pool cover - see links -

http://www.pantherclub.co.uk/Georges/pool%20cover/poolcover.htm & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKHREmW2KA

We are still very active with Barneys Dog Rescue which is currently trying o get charitable status, which will hopefully assist when fund raising.

23rd October 2009. Our year of visitors from the UK has come to an end!! We are now expecting a few visits from other Club members who also have property in Spain.

4th October 2009. Well, Elaine has been & gone & now we have 3 guests (Shelaghs´´girl´friends!!) All is well as it is 34% out on the terrace!! (just don´t tell Elaine)

12th September 2009. Just had a 2 day visit from Mike & Jane, always nice to see them. We had a couple of friends fly over for a 2 day surprise last minute visit which was very nice. Been quite busy with visitors this year. Elaine is due on Monday for her ..enth visit - so she must enjoy it! We harvested most of our almonds but the price paid for them is nearly half that of last year - so back on to bread & dripping!! We fostered 5 beautiful springer spaniel pups & it was no surprise that they were home really quickly, we then took on 4 other pups which we have 2 left, in the meanwhile we took on Raffas as our own 4th dog, not our usual large dog but a real cutie nevertheless..Shelagh has other UK friends due in Oct. & we hope to see Bill & Maureen on their next Spanish visit.

2nd July 2009. Elaine has now been & gone after her 2 week bask in the sun looking positively brown as a berry. A quick visit from Bill & Maureen on Wednesday, always nice to see them & ´chew the fat´. Suitibly chided by Bill I have now added a few extra pics!!

11th June 2009. Olivias birhday today & once again she is here in Spain! We have started the ´visitor´season!! Our friend Jean has been for a week & left, Elaine comes again next week & overlaps with Olivia for a couple of days & is here to the end of the month. Les & Pearl are due in July & other friends later, although busy we always look forward to visits from friends. The weather is Ab Fab & today hit a high for the season at 36% - thank goodness for the pool.. Shelagh became a grandmother earlier this month!!!

9th February 2009. Once again we went to the Pinoso ´Village Day´ yesterday. This is a very Spanish affair & very enjoyable, there are many stalls where local food ´tasters´are available & various market stalls. The weather was fine.

21st December. After a non seasonal cold spell we are back to a period of superb Spanish winter weather. We are in a period of clear blue skies & glorious sunshine, today at 2pm it is over 20% in the shade and 32% / 90% in the sunshine. Shirts off & pick the Olives...

14th December. Our recent trips to Town & visits to our P/O Box have seen us collect several cards from the UK. So a BIG thank you to everyone that has sent us a card. We have booked in to a local Hostelry for our Christmas day dinner, so we will be having dinner with about 16 others... No other news to report except to say that Elaine has booked for a return visit in ´09, either because she enjoyed her first visit or she just wants to try & beat me at cards!!

We wish all our friends in the UK a very Happy Christmas & New Year.

1st December. It is now nearly 3 weeks since 2 of our dogs, Tiny & Perdie went roaming in the ´campo. Sadly we have to accept that they will not return & can only hope they have been taken in & are being looked after elsewhere. The remaining Boxer (Mac) was lost without them & we have decided to take on foster dogs to keep him company. While scouring the various dog pounds we rather ´fell for´ another abandoned dog & have taken her on as our own! Currently we have 4 dogs!!