For how long have you lived on the Costa del Sol?

We don't live permanently on Costa del Sol, but we have owned a finca here for seven years after we retired, which we just sold through Mediterranean Homes with excellent results. Now we have bought an apartment in Fuengirola.

Here's a photo of the finca in Alhaurin de la Torre we just sold. Thank you to Kelly Summerell and the team for doing such a fantastic job!

What made you choose the Costa del Sol as a place to retire to?

We are still a bit more in Sweden than in Spain every year, but it's such a lovely life in Andalucia with the mild winters and the sun, we love the Spanish people and the more relaxed lifestyle here. As we are getting older, we also find it to be very good for our health to be outdoors so much as we are here on Costa del Sol compared to Sweden. And the Spanish food...just love it!

What’s the best thing about living on the Costa del Sol in your opinion?

The people, the climate, walking in the mountains or by the sea.

Give us a brief description of what you get up to on a usual day.

We usually wake up when the sun comes up, either take a coffee at home or at the little café right outside our entrance together with a toast with mixed tomatoes and olive oil.

After that we go for a long walk, either by the beach or up in the Sierra Mijas on one of all the beautiful walking trails there. After that, it's time for lunch and siesta. Refreshed after the siesta, we usually meet up with friends and do some activity, everything from boule, knitting group, Spanish class or excursions to villages around Andalucia.

What is your favourite thing to do here on the Costa del Sol?

Walking on the mountain trails is my favourite; my husband's favourite is to go exploring some of the white villages and have a tapa or two. We often combine the two :)

Do you find that services on the Costa del Sol are adequate for older people? (Transport, healthcare, activities, etc.)

As we are not resident we  have our health care in Sweden, so can't say anything about that. And we mostly go by own car. But what we have seen of transports it seems to work very well and activities are absolutely endless, there are so so many things to do, places to discover, new friends to see and lots of activities to take part of!

Have you found it easy to have a good social life on the Costa del Sol?

Yes, very! It's easy to make new friends here, and people are in no hurry and always take their time to chat. We love it.

What’s your favourite place to eat?

We like to discover new restaurants and places, so we don't have one specific favourite.

Describe what your perfect home on the Costa del Sol would be like and where it would be.

My perfect home on Costa del Sol would be where we are now, in a big enough apartment with balconys in both sunny and shaded location and with beautiful Plaza de la Hispanidad right outside our doorstep with it's lively cafés and restaurants, farmacia, small shops, gym, fruit shop, butcher and food store only a few steps away and the plaza itself is so nice with palm trees, fountains and benches under pergolas covered in climbing flowers. A nice meeting spot where we often meet our friends who live in the houses nearby.

Who would be your perfect dinner guest if you were to host a "Come Dine With Me" style evening?

Obama, to make him convince Michelle to run for president :)

Question asked by our previous "10 minutes with" guest, David Wood: "What aspects of living in Spain have you found most enriching, and how have they changed your perspective on daily life compared to your home country?"

It's the outdoor life, the warm climate with many sunny days and all year round a lot of bright daylight, even when it's cloudy.

The lifestyle invites to being outdoors, eating outside, meeting friends over a coffee often means sitting outside in the sun or the shade, depending onthe  temperature. The beautiful landscape invites taking long walks in nature, it becomes a daily habit that I really miss when I'm in Sweden, and it's minus 10 outside.

In Sweden, we have long dark winters with very little daylight, only a few hours per day. Obviously not inviting to sit outside for a coffee, people tend to be indoors and at home a lot more in Sweden than they do in Spain. It's really a big difference in life quality to have the privilege to enjoy the Spanish easygoing life in the sun instead of enduring the long, cold winters in Sweden :)

What would you like to ask the next “30 Minutes with…” guest?

How do you think Costa del Sol will be in 10-20 years from now?