We had a terrific family holiday in summer 2007, involving a mix of adults, teens and early 20s. The villa offers plenty of internal space, with air conditioning if you need it, as well as a large enclosed garden with a mix of sun and shade during the day. The pool was clean and kept at a pleasant temperature by the Spanish sun.

We were met in Chiclana on arrival by the caretaker and guided to the villa, which was very helpful.

There was only one technical hitch during our stay (the water pump failed because of road works) and this was dealt with quickly and efficiently by the caretaker.

Chiclana itself was too built up for our liking, but the villa is located well out of town in a quiet location. But there are plenty of other towns and villages in easy driving distance, which are charming.

The beaches were unexpectedly brilliant - clean white sand, and normally plenty of free parking nearby.

Restaurants were plentiful and generally very inexpensive, providing masses of seafood as well as normal meat dishes. Strangely we found it difficult to find tapas bars.

We enjoyed the fact that most restaurants only had menus in Spanish, and that there were very few British (or indeed any other nationality) tourists visible in the area: it really is somewhere the Spanish themselves go on holiday.

A car is essential, and this is not the place for those who want to go clubbing till the early hours.

But it provides good villa accommodation with access to great beaches, interesting places to visit and a very authentic environment.