Art Retreat in Valencia

I’ve been back from my art retreat for just over a week and I’m still on a high from what an incredible experience it was, still busily working in my sketchbook recording my memories and making the most of all the inspiration. It’s hard to even know where to start. At the end of April I taught a week long art retreat with UpTrek just outside Valencia Spain with a wonderful group of women and we all had a magical time. During the week we focused on sketching and painting on location, using mixed media, developing a sketchbook practice, understanding colour theory, and capturing people. The week included day trips where we sketched on location in Valencia old town in the City of Arts and Sciences, as well as lots of time spent at the venue where I taught masterclasses and everybody had a chance to work in their sketchbooks and ask for help and advice.

For me as a teacher it was truly an honour to see my student’s work transformed in that week. I’ve done a lot of teaching before, but usually just for a couple of hours, maximum one day. It was really incredible to see students develop as artists, and for me as a teacher to be able to respond to them in real time and tailor the retreat to make sure they got the most out of it that they possibly could. I could see that for many of my students perfectionism and fear of making a mistake was holding them back. Some of my students were spending a really long time sketching and not painting, and when they did paint they were scared to add bold tonal contrast and texture. I took everybody to the Umbracle, a botanical garden in The City Arts and Sciences, and challenged everybody to do a 10 minute painting of a tree. Everybody picked a palm tree or an orange tree, gathered their materials, and then they add 10 minutes to paint it. And that was when the magic happened. People who had previously spent hours agonising over a painting, suddenly painted something beautiful in just 10 minutes, sometimes less. It’s amazing how the time restraint made people bolder and encouraged them to trust their own instincts. Everybody was amazed by what they had created! We did this exercise a few times and it was such a big breakthrough moment for people.

I also loved sharing my passion for painting on location. It was something that most people hadn’t done before, but sitting together painting, chatting, sharing materials and sipping on an orange juice or a Horchata and just felt so natural and people produced beautiful work imbued with memory and atmosphere. Valencia itself is such an incredibly beautiful city and was the perfect place to paint and gather inspiration.

For me the most wonderful thing about this trip, on top of seeing everyone’s artistic development, was how much everybody bonded and what a lovely group it was. We all had so much fun! Every evening at 7 we all gathered to share our sketchbooks over a glass of cava and a canapé. It was a real highlight for everyone. A favourite moment was going to see a flamenco show in Valencia, and our wonderful host Laura teaching us all some flamenco moves before we went. We had such a wonderful time! On the last night the venue hosts surprised me with a little book which they had asked all of my students to write a message in. It was so lovely it made me cry! And a few of my students got a little bit teary eyed as well.
A lot of people have been asking me if I will teach another retreat, and the answer is I would love to! I’m already making plans for next year, so watch this space, and sign up to my newsletter to be the first to hear about any new retreats.

My beautiful students looking very proud of their final pieces.

2022 Round up

I’ve done a little recap of the year because I wanted to take a moment to look back on the projects I’ve completed. I often find that when I’m working on a project I can’t share it because it’s top-secret, and then by the time the work comes out I’m onto something else, so often I forget to even share the work that I’ve done! So it’s nice to look back and reflect on a year full of book covers, greetings cards, editorial illustration, books and online courses. I have decided to divide this round up into seasons, becuaes I honestly cannot remember what I did last year and month by month!

Spring

The biggest thing that happened in spring was my third art book, Watercolour Life, came out! I had been working on this book throughout lockdown, my pregnancy and those early newborn days, so to see it out in the world but like a big achievement! It’s had a really lovely response from readers and reviewers, with some lovely magazine features.  In spring we also took our first family holiday abroad to Mallorca. It was our first time travelling post pandemic and post baby, and we had a lovely time. I even managed to do some painting. Spring also saw the launch of a collection of illustrated floral brownies with The Blushing Cook. Spring also sought the publication of Toujours La France, the third book by Janine Marsh about her life in France, and the third book that I have illustrated the cover for.

Summer

Summer was an exciting season for me. The Further Adventures of Miss Petitfour was published, a children’s book by Anne Michaels that I had illustrated. I illustrated the first Miss Petitfour book, so it was wonderful to be able to return to the character and spend some more time in her world. Like Watercolour Life, I worked on this book whilst pregnant and looking after a small baby, so it felt like a real achievement. Summer also saw the launch of my Domestika course! This was filmed in the spring and launched a few months later, and I’ve been completely overwhelmed by the response. Six months I’ve had nearly 7000 students and 99% positive reviews. I even got highlighted by Domestika as the most successful new course of the quarter. For me the most awarding thing has been seeing my students at work and to be able to interact with them on the phone and give them feedback and advice. I also worked in another book cover, for a YA novel called A Calamity of Mannerings, which will be out next year. I also worked on some greetings cards with a big US retailer that will be available next year. 

Autumn

In early autumn we visited some friends in Norway, which was a really inspiring trip and I managed to do some painting and drawing in my sketchbook. At this point behind-the-scenes I was busy working on a new book, which will be out in 2024! I can’t share too much about it now, but I am really excited and it’s something slightly different for me. Autumn also saw the launch of my collaboration with Wimperis Embroidery. We created a beautiful embroidery kits that combined watercolour and embroidery with an autumnal theme. I also got some samples of greetings cards that I worked on earlier in the year, which are available in Trader Joes in the US.

Winter

In winter I was still busily working on my new book behind-the-scenes, and also working on some illustrated maps for another book that is coming out in 2023. I also developed and designed my very own gouache sketchbook, something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. For awhile I’ve been searching for the perfect sketchbook, so I decided to design one myself and I love using them! You can purchase one in my online shop. At this time I was also very busy behind-the-scenes preparing for my upcoming house move. We moved out of our London flat and into our new house just before Christmas, meaning I’m starting a new year in a new house in a brand new studio. 

So what is to come next year? I’m almost finishing writing a new book, however that won’t be out until 2024. I am very excited about teaching my first art retreat in Spain next year. (There are still a few places available, by the way!) I’m really hoping that this year I will have more time to focus on my sketchbook and coming up with new ideas. My big goal is to work on a children’s book! It’s been a dream for such a long time and now feels like the right time. 

Five Days in Norway

I’ve just got back from a little holiday in Norway. We booked flights very spontaneously and we had a wonderful five days staying with friends in Stavanger. We hiked in the woods, went to the beach, visited the city and I even have time to do a little bit of painting whilst Herbie napped. I bought my neocolor pastels with me which encouraged me to sketch in a quicker, looser way. Before I went I picked out 10 colours that I felt were best suited to the Norwegian landscape, lots of blues plus some creams and browns. The only thing is I wish I had more greens, but I made up for that by mixing it with some watercolours. Here are some pieces from my sketchbook and some of my photos from the trip. I don’t have a lot to say other than Norway is a beautiful country and we had a lovely time. 

Painting Retreat in Spain

I am very very excited to invite you to join me on a week long luxury painting retreat in Valencia, Spain! If you’ve been following me for awhile you know how much I love painting, travel and painting on location, so hosting this retreat is an absolute dream for me.

We will be focusing on painting and drawing in our sketchbooks whilst in Spain, using a mixed media approach with watercolour, gouache, coloured pencils and pastels.

The retreat will include lots of drawing on location in Valencia old town, on the beach, and at the beautiful villa, as well as masterclasses from me covering everything from drawing people to colour theory. We will be staying at a stunning private villa with a pool and spa, just five minutes from the beach, with gourmet chef made meals and amazing Spanish wine. The whole week is going to such a treat and real feast for the senses. This retreat is perfect for all skill levels, whether you’re a total beginner or even a professional looking to relax and reignite their creativity. The retreat will run from the 23rd to 30th of April 2023.

There is a risk free COVID-19 refund policy. See more details here. It is limited to 15 guests, you can find more details about the trip and accommodation here. This is more than just a painting workshop, it is a unique week-long experience and a chance to travel, make new friends and incredible memories. Find out more details and reserve your space here. If you have any questions feel free to directly contact Uptrek.

I am so excited about this and I hope some you can join me!

Slow Travel with a Toddler

I’ve just got back from a holiday to Mallorca and it was truly blissful. It was our first holiday since having a baby and we brought my parents along as reinforcements. I kept my expectations low as I’d heard ‘it’s not a holiday, it’s parenting in a different location’ a million times, but to be honest it was lovely. I think the key was taking it very slowly (and having a 4 to 1 adult to toddler ratio). We didn’t sight-see, we didn’t go to markets or galleries, we didn’t do day-trips and we only ate out three times. We just relaxed and took things at Herbie’s pace and found that with his naps and early bed time there was actually a lot of time to just chill out and read. I even had time to set up a still life of some lemons I picked in the garden and paint them. We even embraced the cloudy days, painting the moody skies and wrapping up warm and going to the beach regardless. Here’s to taking things slowly. You can read my top tips for slow travel here, buy a copy of my guided journal Slow Travel here and see more of Mallorca in my post from 2018.

Getting Better at Drawing People

People often ask me how to get better at drawing people. The way to get better at drawing anything really is to draw from life and to practice. The best way to understand anatomy and facial structure is to go to a life drawing lesson, and I believe their are online life drawing classes. For me the best way to get better at drawing people in a more natural way, understanding how to show movement and body language, is people watching. Obviously at the moment location drawing trips can be tricky, so these are the two ways I’ve been drawing people in lockdown.

Number one, look out of your window. I live on busy road, people walk past my window all the time walking their dogs, going to the park, carrying their shopping. I try to take a mental picture of their outfit and posture and do a very quick sketch as they walk past.

Another great tool for drawing people going about their everyday lives is Google Maps! I’ve seen a lot of artists use Google Maps during lockdown for painting buildings and landscapes, but it’s also great for people. You can see enough of people walking down the street to get a sense of their character, how they dress, how they walk, but you don’t get caught up in tiny details as you can’t really see anyone’s face. I love visiting different areas I know on Google Maps and seeing how differently people behave in different spaced, people walking in a relaxed way by the seaside or people powerwalking or slumped over in the city. I’ve noticed how often couples and friends dress alike, and how they usually walk perfectly in step with each other.

The top row of the sketches were all created from google images, and the bottom row of people spotted from my window. I find these pages full of little people really useful and often adapt them for projects when I need someone walking or standing in a particular way.

Keeping a Sketchbook

Sketches from Paris

When I was at university keeping a sketchbook was of utmost importance. We had a sketchbook for each project we worked on and a personal sketchbook. We spent a huge amount of time drawing from life on location, in London and on class trips around the world. When I asked my tutors if I could take a week off school to go to Paris on my own and sketch they said yes. At the time I didn’t quite get the true importance of regular sketching, and sketches seemed like a means to an end, a way of progressing through a project. But when you sketch regularly you build up a personal reference library for yourself, that you can use it for years to come. When I’m starting a project and need reference images or inspiration the first place I go is to my sketchbooks. Whether I need an image of some roof tops, some spring flowers, or a couple walking, I know that I will have a sketch of that somewhere. Of course I could find reference photos online for all of those things, but it’s just so lovely to be able to use my own sketches as reference, to turn the pages of my sketchbook and have all the memories of that time and that project come flooding back.

Sketches from Peru

I fell out of love with sketchbooks for a few years, I think because I’ve always struggled with pencil sketches. I think in terms of colour, texture and shape, not line, so pencil was always a bit limiting for me. When I realised I could just paint straight into my sketchbooks instead of worrying about pencils it reinvigorated my sketchbook practice.

A sketchbook should be whatever you need it to be, it can be full of pencil sketches, notes, doodles, paint swatches, paintings both finished and half completed. Sketchbook is a place to record experiences and ideas.

Sketches from Mallorca

Sketches from Tuscany

Sketchbooks I like:

For watercolours – Hanhemule Watercolour Book

For gouache: Moleksine Art

For pencil sketches - Moleksine Cahier

Fabriano Bouquet Collection of 7

How to Sketch While You Travel

Is there anything more relaxing than sitting painting in the sunshine whilst on holiday? However it’s so easy to pack your paints and sketchbook in your suitcase and then leave them there all week! I’m definitely guilty of taking my art materials on holiday, but never actually using them. When you are on holiday and you’ve got a limited amount of time to do and see things it can be difficult to make time to sketch. Here are my top tips for making it happen.

Preparation

Paint
Think carefully about the materials you are bringing. You want to choose things that are compact and lightweight. At home I use a Schmincke Horadam Watercolour Set that comes in a metal tin, however this is very heavy, so on holiday I take this Winsor & Newton Watercolour Set which comes in a light plastic palette with lots of mixing space. It's the perfect paint palette for travelling with.

This was my first time travelling with gouache. I had just bought a set of Holbein Artists Gouache, which come in tiny 5 mL tubes. These teeny tiny tubes are perfect for travelling as they take up no space at all.

Brushes
Water brushes, brushes that contain water in the handle, are ideal for painting on the go. I also like to bring small travel brushes with me. The set of Winsor and Newton watercolours I linked to above comes with a size 5 brush with a short handle so it fits perfectly inside the palette. You can get travel watercolour brushes with detachable or retractable handles that keep the bristles intact whilst travelling.

Sketchbook
I might be completely biased, but I love my sketchbooks from Papier. Yes, they might have my illustrations on the front, but the paper inside is great for pencil sketching, gouache and watercolours. The sketchbook is paperback and staple bound so it opens up completely flat and is very light to pack. The pages are thick enough that you can paint on both side.

Pencils
If you are packing traditional pencils make sure you bring a pencil sharpener, and if you are taking a mechanical pencil make sure you bring some spare leads. I bought my Blackwing pencil with me which has a great rubber on the end.

Pencil case
I used a make up bag as a giant pencil case which I could fit my sketchbook, paint set, brushes and pencils into. Having everything all in one bag made it easy to keep everything together.

Choose your Colour Palette
It’s a good idea to pick a colour palette before you go as it will allow you to limit the amount of art supplies you need to bring. Some people might say that you never know what will inspire you, and therefore what colours you will need, but realistically knowing that I was going somewhere with stone houses with green shutters and lots of orange groves that I would need a good green, orange and stone colour.  Think about the place that you are going and the colours you are most likely to use. For example if I was going to Japan during cherry blossom season I would want to take some great pinks with me. If you are bringing watercolours you will probably just bring the whole set, this applies more to tubes of gouache, colour pencils or felt tip pens. On my holiday I brought five tubes of gouache - white, raw umber, permanent yellow, permanent green and flame red. I also took a set of watercolours.

Top tip -

If you are short of space you can just take a set of watercolours and a tube of white gouache. You can mix the pigment from the watercolours with the white on the palette to make gouache of different colours. 

Make it Happen
 

Make Time
Doing a sketch or painting takes a bit of time, it’s not like taking a quick photo. Plan times when you are likely to be able to do some painting and take your sketchbook out with you. I found that waiting for my food to arrive in a restaurant was a great time to sketch, as we were always eating outside in picturesque locations.

Compromise
One of the tricky parts of painting on holiday is compromising the people you are travelling with. Explain to your travel partner that you want to do some painting and suggest that they have a go sketching as well, or bring a book to read. On holiday I did lots of painting and my husband read. 

Edit
Don’t feel like you have to paint everything you see in front of you. If you are inspired by one small detail of what you can see, like a particular person, a beautiful tree, or a cute dog it is fine to just paint that one thing. It’s also fine if you don’t finish your painting or sketch in one sitting. Take photos of the scene and use them, plus your memory, to finish it later.

Save it for Later
If there is something you want to paint and you don’t have time grab a sneaky photo and paint it later. I always like to do some holiday paintings in my sketchbook when I get home whilst it is all still fresh in my mind.

Enjoy the Moment
Don’t worry about creating a masterpiece or a beautiful sketchbook. Painting on holiday is about the experience, not just the end result. Painting while travelling is a great way to force yourself to slow down and really take in your surroundings. Enjoy the moment and don’t worry too much about the outcome.

I hope those tips have inspired you to get painting on your next holiday. Let me know if you have any questions. Here are some great blog posts about sketching while traveling from my friends Jackie and Viktorija.

More from my trip to Mallorca coming up soon!

A Little Guide to Lisbon

Lisbon has always been on my must visit list, so when I decided book a mini break as a treat for finishing writing my first book it was an obvious choice. I couldn’t wait to explore the cobbled streets and colourful alleyways of Lisbon. We went at the beginning of October, and were expecting pleasantly warm weather, what we actually got was a heat wave with highs of 32°. Perfect weather for wafting about in a sundress, drinking beer and eating ice cream, although it did make the steep hills and hundreds of steps in Lisbon a bit of a challenge.

Santos and Bario Alto

We stayed in an airbnb in the historic Santos neighbourhood, on the charming Rua da Esperanca, which translates as Hope Street. It was a quiet and pretty neighbourhood, and an easy walk into the busier neighbourhoods of Barrio Alto. We arrived just before three in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to explore our first day. One of our favourite local finds was  Mercearia da Milla, which is a lovely delicatessen selling great coffee, pastries, salads and sandwiches. After grabbing a coffee we made our way into town for a wander and a chance to get our bearings. For dinner we popped into the Time Out Market, which everyone raved about. Unfortunately it just wasn’t for us. The food looked great, but having to bring your food on a plastic tray to a vast communal table in hope of finding a seat somewhere near your partner as well as having to shout to each other among the crowds of people just wasn’t our kind of thing. I’ve realised that any restaurant described as having a 'buzzing atmosphere' just isn’t for me. I picked up an incredibly tasty custard tart at Manteigaria, the first of many, to eat on the go. It was warm, flakey, fragrent and slightly gooey; the best. We found a little family run restaurant in a quiet alleyway near where we were staying and had an excellent, and very affordable dinner there instead.

Alfama, the flea market and the tram

The Museum of Antique Art was just around the corner of where we were staying, so of course I dragged my husband there on our first morning. The museum is a real mixture from mediaeval art work to the home furnishings of the Portuguese royal family. One of the most memorable exhibits in the museum was a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch. It was my first time seeing a Bosch in the flesh, and we must’ve spent about 20 minutes just staring at it. After a few hours in the museum we decided to go to the flea market in Alfama, which is pretty much the opposite side of Lisbon. We made our way there slowly throughout the day, with lots of stops for iced coffee, beer, ice cream and a chance to take in the beautiful views. Santini in Chiado was our favourite spot for ice cream. Our route took us through the Praça do Comércio, a large plaza that looks out onto the river Tagus. From there we made our way into Alfama, the oldest neighbourhood in the city which is beautifully higgledy-piggledy and colourful. After walking up what seemed like hundreds of steps we made our way to a mirador (view point) where we enjoyed an iced coffee and a stunning panoramic view of Lisbon and the Tagus. After that we continued towards the flea market via George castle and the church. The flea market itself is vast, and I would describe it as containing everything you could possibly imagine, but don’t actually want to buy. Everything from rusty nails and vintage matchboxes to cheap shampoo and tourist postcards. It’s great fun to wander round and have a look. After that we decided to get the historic Tram 28 back, as we couldn’t face walking all that way in the scorching sun. Tram 28 is a traditional wooden tram from the 1930s and it’s a great way to see the city

Fado

We had dinner at the same place as before, partly because I had left my scarf there and partly because it was really good. After that we made I way to Barrio Alto to hear some Fado. Fado is to Portugal as Flamenco is to Spain. It is a haunting and melancholy music. There are many Fado bars in Barrio Alto and Alfama, and they get very busy in the evening.
 

Cascais

We debated going to both Cascais and the castle district of Sintra in the same day and getting a taxi from one to the other, but in the end we decided it would be more relaxing to spend the whole day at Cascais instead. Cascais is a beach resort 30 minutes from Lisbon on the train (€5 return). It has lots of beautiful sandy beaches, stunning historic mansions, beautiful parks and lots of restaurants. It has such a relaxed, chilled out vibe, I would love to go back and stay longer. My favourite part was finding a teeny tiny hidden beach tucked behind a stunning mansion. There were only four people on the beach and you could only reach it when the tide was out.

LX Factory

On our last day we visited the Estrela Basilica, and paid to go up onto the roof, which was amazing, but not for those scared of heights. After that we had a wander in the park and explored the quiet neighbourhood Estrela. Looking for somewhere for lunch we stumbled across the Mercado de Campo de Ourique. There were vegetables, meat and cheese for sale as well as stalls selling hot food. The food section was similar to the Time Out market but much more quiet and family friendly. My husband had steak and fries and I had huge salad.

After that we decided to walk to the LX Factory which is a little way out of the city centre. We did an awful lot of walking on our last day! I’d been trying to drag my husband to the LX Factory since the first day but he is very resistant to anything that sounds too trendy. We had a coffee then explored Ler Devagar which Is probably one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world. For a bibliophile like my husband this definitely made the journey to the LX Factory worthwhile. The bookshop is built around a huge antique printing press, which printed the very first ever newspapers in Portugal. Currently on the printing press, which is about the size of a small house, there is an exhibition of kinetic art run by a charming and eccentric old man. He makes electric sculptures out of old bits of rubbish and delights in showing them to visitors. There was something so wonderfully absurd and charming about them that you couldn’t help but to grin from ear to ear.

After that we walked back to the Santos neighbourhood and had a beer in a rather smart bar overlooking the river next to the Museum of Antique Art and waited until it was time to call an Uber.

This painting inspired by the lovely old neighbourhood of Alfama is now available as print in my shop. 

Finding Inspiration

In this blog post I wanted to talk a little bit about inspiration. I personally define inspiration as feeling motivated to do something or create something. It's that feeling when you read a great book and immediately want to sketch the main character, or you go somewhere so beautiful that you can't stop taking photos, filming or sketching.
In interviews I often get asked how I stay inspired, which I've always found a really odd question as I'm inspired pretty much 100% of the time. There is never really a moment when I'm not planning new ideas or thinking about things I want to paint in my head. I actually dream about paint, it's a bit odd.

But I think for most people finding inspiration and staying inspired is a bit more of a challenge. I think for a lot of people there number one destination for inspiration is Instagram and Pinterest. I love Instagram and Pinterest, I think they are amazing places to share your work, build a community, find new customers and clients and to get a general idea of what's going on in the creative industry is. However I don't think they're good place to seek inspiration. What normally happens after a Instagram binge is that you end up getting slightly overwhelmed by image after beautiful image. The problem is there is no context to these images, you have no sense of how long they took to create, or even when they were created chronologically, and how many first drafts had to go into creating the final piece. You might have scrolled through two years work in 30 seconds. What I generally find happens is that seeing so much beautiful work by other people in a short space of time makes me doubt myself. It makes me feel that simultaneously my work should be more colourful yet more muted, more complex but more simple, basically less like me and more like everybody else that I admire. And what usually happens is that I don't feel motivated to create at all, I just get stuck in a cycle of endless scrolling. Not that I don't love seeing beautiful work on Instagram and discovering new illustrators, but if you're starting to doubt your own work it's time to put the phone down. Best case scenario and you feel a bit down and wonder why you bother, worst case scenario is is that people actually try to imitate what they are see on Instagram and end up copying the artists that they admire. My work has been copied many times by students and amateur painters. I understand why it happens and how easy it is to do. If you are spending a lot of time looking at the same few artists work it's natural that your work will start to look like their's. The best antidote to this is to seek inspiration from as many different sources as possible, preferably away from a computer screen. 

So where do you find inspiration? 
This will vary for everyone. What inspires me may not inspire you, and that's a good thing. Peoples unique and diverse sources of inspiration are what makes their work unique. 
 

Museums and galleries
I always find walking round a museum with a sketchbook or visiting a beautiful exhibition really inspiring. There is something about seeing great works of art close up, seeing the texture of the paint and the individual brush strokes that makes me want to pick up a paintbrush soon as I get home.

Travel
I find travelling so inspiring, and when I travel I deliberately pick places that I know want to sketch or paint. I love going to the colourful cities like Seville or Marrakech or places with a strong history of folk art like Mexico or Peru.

People watching
People watching is such a great free source of inspiration. If you draw people in your work it's great to spend time observing real people, their body language what they wear et cetera. My favourite well-dressed old people and adorable children.

Old films and documentaries
I love the costumes and sets in old films. Anything with Audrey Hepburn oh Marilyn Monroe is a good start. I also love watching documentaries about inspiring creative women. Iris, and The Eye Has To Travel are two of my favourites. 

Vintage shops and antiques fairs
If you like drawing objects then vintage shops and antiques shops are great places to find inspiration. I don't know why it is but I find old objects have so much more character and are just more drawable than new objects. I would rather draw a typewrite than a MacBook any day.

Colour combinations
Keep an eye out for beautiful, accidental colour combinations in every day life. An iPhone is a great way to record these little moments of colour inspiration that might otherwise be forgotten. 

So basically every time you leave the house or switch on the TV the potential for inspiration is there! These are just a few of the places I find inspiration, hopefully this has encouraged you to try something you and seek out inspiration.

A Little Guide to Seville

I’ve always had a fascination with Seville, probably because so many operas are set there. It has always seemed like the most romantic and mysterious of Spanish cities. So when we where looking for a city break that would provide a bit of winter sun and allow my husband to practice his Spanish, Seville was the obvious choice. October is a great time to go to Seville as the weather is warm (high 20s) but not oppressively hot.
There are so many things to do in Seville and it is such a charming, walkable city that it is the perfect place for a city break. We spent four days in Seville, and though we would have loved to stay longer we definitely got a feel for the city. Here are a few of my favourite things to do in Seville, though really the best thing to do is just walk and walk and explore the city on foot (with lots of stops for tapas).

The city’s most famous attraction, the Alcazar, is a must see. The Alcazar is a royal palace original developed by Moorish kings. It’s famous for it’s stunning architecture, tile work and gardens. We bought our tickets (€9.50) on the day and queued for about 20 minutes, but you can buy them in advance online. Once you get through the ticket office it’s easy to shake off the hoards of tour groups and explore the expansive gardens and rooms on your own. It is such a calm and peaceful place that you almost forget that the city outside exists.

The Plaza España is a collection of governmental buildings on the edge of the
Maria Luisa park. It doesn’t sound worth a visit but it really is. The buildings are beautiful, set in a semi circle with miniature bridges and waterways that you can row through. It is a testament to stunning Sevillian craftsmanship, every region of Spain having its own elaborately decorated alcove. It’s also completely free to visit. Make sure you also explore the park, which is beautiful. 

The city’s newest attraction, the Parasol Metropol, is somewhat controversial and not everyone is a fan. I think it’s definitely worth a visit as it only  costs €3 and gives you stunning views of Seville. Your ticket also entitles you to a free drink, I highly recommend enjoying an ice cold glass of beer at the top whilst taking in the view.

You can’t go to Seville without seeing some flamenco. There are shows in the city centre that cater to tourists where the tickets are quite expensive and then there are shows in the outskirts that cater to locals and aficionados, starting at midnight and serving only hard alcohol. La Carboneria is a happy middle ground. It is located in the city centre, it’s free to get in and shows run from 9:30 – 12:00. The shows are fantastic, and need to be seen to understand the passion and the energy. 

It’s actually quite hard to have a bad meal in Seville, pretty much everywhere is good. We mostly ordered tapas as its fun and cheap. Ordering tapas means you can try lots of different dishes and even several different restaurants in one night. Portions are generous and we usually ordered four tapas between two. Here are a few places I’d recommend: El Rinconcillo – the oldest tapas bar in Seville – go for atmosphere, decor and good tapas, La Huerta 9 – lovely tapas eaten under the orange trees, Confiteria La Campana – classic coffee and patisserie, staffed by adorable old men in stripy waistcoats and El Rincon el Rosita – the friendliest restaurant in Seville and delicious food.

We flew with Ryanair and stayed in an Airbnb apartment. We stayed in the Macarena neighbourhood which I would highly recommend. It’s about 20 minutes walk from the centre and is a really charming neighbourhood. Get £25 off your first Airbnb stay here.

What I wore:
Checked dress – People Tree, shorts – vintage, straw boater – vintage, white blouse – charity shop, denim jacket – H&M, sunglasses – Anthropologie, watch – Daniel Wellington