My family and I have recently returned from a two week holiday in Carvoeiro, I am still floating around in the clouds what a wonderful holiday.

On arrival at Faro Airport our hired car was waiting for us.

Villa was wonderful in fact I would say it was a perfect retreat spacious and well furnished maid service, clean towels and bed linen every day.

The choice of beaches within easy reach of the Villa was remarkable Carvoeiro Bay is a haven of sheltered golden sands carved into rugged cliffs.

We did quite a lot of exploring family members all catered for water parks, leisure facilities, my better half was in heaven with the golf parks in fact he could not shut up about them you know what men golfers are like. My delights were the colour markets you can absorb the atmosphere and immerse your self in the regions rich history.

Eating out which every one enjoys on holiday restaurants in abundance couple of examples beautiful soups (sopas) caldo verde followed by pork with clams, or roast suckling pig,

grilled squid or cod with egg and potatoes, washed down with a bottle of Douro Reserva I could go on about the food for ever, but I do not want to bore you.

I have decided this year I am going to book my holiday myself, always in the past I have been a package holiday person trotting into the travel agents and felt secure especially with having ABTA behind them, also the guarantee that if anything went wrong you have a governing body to complain to of course for peace of mind you do pay a lot more money.

I got myself onto the Internet and searched around for Villas in Spain, Majorca, available for four people, I found to my surprise dealing with the person who owns the property you cut out the middle man, whereas a travel agent would charge you per person, say for example £300 each, book direct with the owner it would be £500 per Villa, of course you do have the flights to book as well, but they are extremely cheap these days

I decided to call the owner, instead of talking by email , make sure you have a lot of questions to ask , if you feel you are not getting the right answers then don’t book try another one, once you have decided on the Villa you would like always get a written confirmation before you hand over any money.

I suddenly realised how much spending money I would have left for my holiday, which of course made me very happy