Taking the Heat: An Expat Under Pressure in Spain

High in the Spanish mountains, life at Casa Desolada is nothing if not fraught. Embattled and bemused, Nick Snelling, ex-soldier, antiques dealer, builder, legal executive, consultant, author, estate agent and equity trader has finally become an ex patriot. A doomed romantic, Nick lurches from the shortest TV career in media history to a disastrous attempt at becoming a wine merchant of fine Riojas. Along the way, he battles sex obsessed English language students, lethal barbecues, the temptation of topless beach beauties, the mysteries of Iberian building and the ultimate peril of a wife ruinously seduced by Spanish shopping. Meanwhile, Nick’s attempts to impose Spanish patriarchal machismo upon his family repeatedly back-fire… Nick Snelling is a writer and professional journalist who lives with his wife and two children in the Valencian mountains of Spain. Learn more at www.nicholassnelling.com Margaret Denmark is a professional artist who lives in Spain with her partner who is also a painter. For many years she was an illustrator and her work appeared for the Radio Times amongst others.