Last days of the bus club

Those who (like me) have kept up with the life of Chris Stewart and his family as they relocated to the wilds of southern Spain, at El Valero, will be fans of his dry humour as well as his industry in carving a profitable - well, sometimes, anyway - farm in the harsh Mediterranean climate.

Author of Driving over Lemons and several other best-selling books, Stewart often mentions the rather steeply angled and difficult access to his property. The creek, the ford, the vertiginous hills, all become part of his immediate scenery and feature prominently in the stories. Every vehicle that comes here must negotiate these.

Two decades after the family's move to Spain, not much has changed with that road, but now his daughter, Chloé is growing up, and 'the bus club' (the local version of a school-run car-pool) is coming to an end as his daughter moves on to further education in the city of Granada.

There is still plenty to write about though: the seasons on the farm, communal dinners, inevitable hiccups (still) where he becomes embarrassingly tangled speaking Spanish, harvests, and even a visit from Rick Stein.

It is all told here in Christ Stewart's inimitable self-deprecating style, seasoned with plenty of local produce, washed down by jugs of robust wines with friends at long tables. It's the ultimate escapist book to transport you to a sunny land far away; one where you may never want to live yourself, but which you can vicariously visit and see it through the eyes of someone who has exuberantly made it his home.

Last Days of the Bus Club, by Chris Stewart, published by Allen & Unwin, 2014, paperback, rrpA$22.99.

- reviewed by Sally Hammond

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