From Paella to Porridge: A Farewell to Mallorca and a Scottish Adventure (Snowball Oranges Book 5) - Softcover

Kerr, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0957658656 ISBN 13: 9780957658653

Publisher: Oasis-WERP, 2016

Synopsis

This is the fifth and final book in Peter Kerr’s award-winning pentad of fun-filled Mallorcan travelogues, which also includes Snowball Oranges, Mañana Mañana, Viva Mallorca! and A Basketful of Snowflakes. After three years of hard work, the Kerr family say a reluctant goodbye to their little orange farm in the Tramuntana Mountains. Their Mallorcan experience comes to an end with a surprise paella feast, full of bonhomie, though tempered with an inescapable sense of poignancy. Now begins their return-to-Scotland adventure. A period of challenges and change finds them attempting to start a deer farm on the brow of a remote hill, and trying to earn a living by restoring houses in the rolling East Lothian countryside. Yet they still find time to explore their homeland with fresh eyes, visiting such places as the ‘Biarritz of the North’, once a haven for witches and Treasure Island pirates, and even gaining an insider’s view of the world-famous Edinburgh Military Tattoo. There’s never a dull moment in the Kerr household – even when it’s porridge for breakfast!

About this title

Review

A brilliantly observed account of a family's transition from a Mallorcan
"finca" back to Scotland. I recommend it. Thoroughly. -- 'The Scots Magazine' - December 2006

"Scotland's top travel writer"
-- Writer's Forum, October 2007

"There have been numerous tales of naïve Brits venturing abroad
but few went with the skills to tackle the task"
-- The Bookworm (Bookworld Espana), Summer 2007

'delightful book recounting life as a fruit farmer in rural
Mallorca, having moved his family from Scotland' -- The Telegraph, June 2007

It's all light-hearted stuff, and Peter pokes gentle fun not only at the locals but also himself. -- Telegraph Property

With his vivid descriptions of life on a small but idyllic orange
farm...Peter Kerr's trademark humour is still there.
-- 'H! Society Magazine', November 2006

With more highs and lows than the other books in the series ... we
share the amazing fortitude of the family.
-- Bookworld Espana, May 2007

full of comic shenanigans but tinged with sadness. -- Spain magazine

"If you have been following the escapades of the Kerr family in Mallorca, you'll just have to read this to find out why they eventually left." (Goodreads.com)

From the Author

Paradoxically, the six-book account of my family's orange-growing adventures (and misadventures!)began in Scotland, via the pages of 'Thistle Soup'. Now, as the title 'From Paella to Porridge' suggests, we retrace our steps back 'home' to the land of hills, haggis and heather.

However, there's still plenty of fun in this book involving the colourful Mallorcan characters who populated so much of 'Snowball Oranges', 'Manana, Manana', 'Viva Mallorca!' and 'A Basketful of Snowflakes'. But why on earth, people ask me, did we give up our enviable lifestyle on a sun-kissed Mediterranean island to return to a country not noted for the allure of its climate?

All is revealed here, and I hope that my descriptions of some seldom-trumpeted aspects of Scotland will help convince those of you who are unfamiliar with its many charms that my homeland is well worth a visit.

So then, will there be no more humour-laced Mallorcan adventures for the Kerr family? Well, as I say at the end of this book, never say never.

Adios the noo,

Peter Kerr.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oasis-WERP
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0957658656
• ISBN 13: 9780957658653
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 321