Step back about 30 years and my parents headed off with my brother and sister to a small village in the North of Spain- Calella de Palafrugell. When they arrived tired after a long and strainous train journey, and hot and sticky from the midday sun it was siesta time and they had to sit in a cafe ordering drinks whilst waiting for the estate agent to open to first of all change their money and secondly get the key to their apartment. Instantly they fell in love with this town and continued to come here every year until 1990. At this point they decided that there were just a few too many British tourists coming to this place, but this did not end their travels to spain. Instead they chose to take their annual holiday in a slightly smaller village- Tamariu.

Calella
I myself first got to visit this area of spain when I was 3 years old and we visited Calella. It was an amazing place and I was lucky enough to stay there four more times before my parents decided that it had become too over run with tourists. Back then it was small with traditional spanish white washed buildings and a few cafes, restaurants and hotels. The main tourists who visited were Spaniards and French. My family liked being able to go on holiday without seeing other British people everywhere as it meant we would get to chat to people from other countries and learn a little about different cultures. Nowadays it is still a lovely little town although there are many more Bristish tourists than there were then, and unfortunatly it has become very built up with apartment complex's. It still isnt too bad though- its not your typical resort plagued with British run nightclubs and skyscraping hotels. The restaurants are locally run, many of which are family owned. It now has a small burger bar which has a games room downstairs with pool tables and arcade games. I would reccomend this village to families with teenagers as it has the most to do. There is also a diving club here for keen divers, a botanical gardens and beautiful cliff walks. There are four beaches, one of which is quite a trek round the rocks but once your there it has amazing waves for the children to play in. Unfortunatly I cant remember its name but locals will know which one you are talking about.

Tamariu
This is the least built up and least touristy of the three villages. To get to it you drive down a windy coastal road with cliffs to the right off you that drop down to the sea.
The village is very small with one long road which leads up to a locally run campsite, a couple of restaurants, a few houses and a couple of shops, and another which just leads to some more housing, and then a few minor roads. Along the seafront there is another road which is a pedestrianised zone and this is where there are about 4 bars, 3 restaurants and a couple of hotels.
The village is for those of you who would like a nice peaceful and relaxing holiday. The village is very picturesque, and the beach although not very fine sand, is lovely to sit on and watch the fishing boats going in and out. There is a nice walk along the rocks to rock pools where you can fish, or if you follow the red stripes you can do a walk that will last most of the day and take you to Calella. There is a diving club here as well, and the tourist office puts on acctivities for kids on some summers days which are free of charge, as well as the occasional entertainment on the seafront such as Spanish dancing. The good thing about this village is that it seems as though it would be impossible to expand to much because of the landscape of the local area. Any building they have done over the last few years has kept with the traditional spanish style of property's, and there is simply not space for them to build huge complex's. In recent years there have been more people discovering this hidden gem and a few expensive tourist operators from the UK have started to advertise breaks here.

The cost
For such a wonderful part of the country it is suprisingly cheap. You can get an apartment for four people for £250 a week in the summer time, and food and local travel is also cheap.

The People
The locals are so friendly. They love it if you try to speak Spanish or Catalonian or even a mixture of the to, but love you even if you dont! After going for many years the owner at one particular family run bar in Tamariu recognises us every time- usually when my father asks for 'uno cerveza'!