When you think about it there can’t be all that many properties on the planet that can boast sweeping views of an entirely different continent. However, Norman and Pam Bailey’s three-bedroom villa situated in the foothills of Andalusia’s Cordón Montañoso del Litoral (Coastal Mountain Range) is one of the few that can.

On a clear blue morning in late summer, with temperatures already creeping towards 30˚C, the amazing panorama from the spacious terraced balcony, in front of the couple’s master bedroom, takes in stepped foothills sloping gently down to the broad plains behind the much-developed coastline of the Costa del Sol and out over the blue Mediterranean, beyond which a hazy charcoal silhouette is distinctly visible – Morocco, the mountainous edge of northern Africa.

“To be fair, it’s not a bad spot have your breakfast,” says Norman, with the genial understatement of a typical Yorkshire man, hailing originally from Doncaster. “Pam’s from Leeds,” he continues, “but we actually first met over thirty years ago on Jersey in the Channel Islands. I was working as the head of the art department at a local college there and Pam was working for the HSBC bank – so there we were, two northerners meeting up about as far south as you can get in the British Isles.”

Nevertheless, the couple spent many happy years together on the island until, at the turn of the millennium, they realised it was time to drastically re-evaluate their lives.

“I had a couple of health scares,” explains Pam, “and Norman was feeling increasingly frustrated at work, with more and more administrative paperwork taking away the time he could actually spend teaching art hands-on to his students. Eventually we saw that we were at a decisive crossroads in our lives and these problems were actually the cues to make a signficant change.”

So the couple decided to join an investigative tour organised by a property company selling villas along Spain’s Costa Blanca.

“Apparently, nearly 70 percent of the people that go on these viewing trips end up buying a property,” explains Norman, “but we decided pretty quickly that the area really wasn’t for us. It just felt much too over-developed, and so specifically for expats that any trace of the real Spain seemed to have been lost somewhere. We returned to Jersey a week later wondering if we had just made a false start – or whether our whole idea of relocating to Spain had been totally misguided.”

Yet Norman and Pam refused to be perturbed by one unfortunate initial visit, and made the sensible decision to return to Spain under their own steam, to find out exactly what the country had to offer them.

“When we came back on our own terms,” Pam continues, “it was a totally different experience, and the further south we travelled the more we liked what we saw. When we got to Andalusia we knew that this was it – and that’s exactly where we are now.”

More specifically, the couple settled five miles inland, halfway between Malaga and Marbella, on the outskirts of the beautiful hilltop village of Mijas. Populated through the preceding centuries by Celts, Phoenicians and Moors, Mijas is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in southern Spain; with its white-washed houses and churches scattered like sugar-cubes across the flanks of the mountain side, visitors flock here daily to wander picturesque cobbled streets draped under jasmine and bougainvillea, and gasp at the panoramic views.

“Being about two kilometres from the village centre is just perfect for us,” says Pam. “It’s peaceful here, away from the coach parties, but the shops, restaurants and other facilities are only a couple of minutes away. Especially on our new moped.”

“This whole area suits us down to the ground,” agrees Norman. “We never wanted to be squeezed between apartment blocks just to be on the seafront, but we didn’t want to live in isolation out in the back of beyond either. This really is the right spot for us; it’s a 15 minute drive to the beach if you want it, or if you’re ever missing England then Gibraltar is only an hour by car south-west of here, where you can pick up baked beans, teabags and all the comforts of home. But behind us, over the back of these amazing mountains, is the real Spain, with stunning scenery and beautiful historic towns and cities, like Granada, Cordoba and Seville, all just a couple of hours’ car journey away.”

If the geography of the local surroundings didn’t delight them enough, Pam and Norman are equally happy with their spotless villa, which they moved into in 2005.

“When we came here initially we had an apartment within a gated complex just a few miles away,” Pam explains. “It suited us to start with, because it was convenient and secure, which meant that we could come and go, in and out of the country, without too much fuss or organisation. But the major thing we lacked was an area for Norman’s studio, and because of that he was having to rent separate space in the centre of Mijas, which wasn’t ideal. We always knew that once we were happily settled in an area we liked then it would eventually be time to find ourselves a place with the potential space to become a home studio.”

“When we first saw this place last year,” continues Norman, “we loved the location, it was just so peaceful and the views were second-to-none. It had a nice sized pool, which was another requirement, and not only was it in excellent structural condition for a thirty-year-old re-sale, the garden and surrounding landscaping was already properly matured and filled out, so there was none of that sensation of visiting a brand new property on a piece of freshly turned barren earth. But what really gave it the wow factor, especially for me, was the self-contained apartment on the lower ground floor, which I think had been converted from a garage. As soon as we went in there I knew I’d found my perfect home studio – then it was just a matter of hoping that Pam was as enthusiastic about the villa as me!”

Fortunately for Norman she was and the couple moved in just over a year ago with nothing more taxing to undertake on their new property than giving it a fresh lick of paint inside and out. After which, Norman could start putting his paint where it really belongs – on canvas – and so embrace the life he missed.

“We both find this a truly inspirational area,’ he enthuses, “and Pam and I joined a hiking and walking club soon after coming here. It’s fantastic because we go touring all around here, as well as further afield all over Spain. Being on foot is the ideal way of not just seeing, but really appreciating a new country, and I always come back from one of our tours brimming with artistic inspiration from the colours and patterns in the Andalusian scenery. I think there’s enough variety here to keep me going for a lifetime.”

So it would appear that even if this jovial, no-fuss Yorkshire couple take their new life in Spain completely in their stride, Norman the artist is still completely bewitched.