“We were terribly English and polite about it until Barbara told us to sit on the doorstep of the town hall and not to leave until we got our permit. It took all day and half the night one Friday, but by the next week the lights were on.”

Flicking through his photo-diary of the 18-month-long construction, King says the only tricky battles he and Read fought were over windows and interior decoration. “Spanish homes have very small windows and we had to bully the builders every day to get the french windows installed.

“When it came to decorating we found that Spanish style can be a bit like traditional Spanish food — heavy and dull. We got so fed up with the builders’ insistence that we had to have a dog’s-vomit, fake granite kitchen work surface that we did the ‘run of shame’ up to Ikea in Madrid to buy a fitted kitchen.”

However lucky they may be, many Brits who build their dream home in the sun soon tire of the good life and hanker after the home comforts of grey skies, beer and friends and relatives. King and Read are starting two new businesses to give them a reason to love their new home when even the view over the mountains becomes familiar. They have built two self-catering flats for tourists and plan to open a small company selling flowers, seeds and seedlings to local residents and other self-builders.

“We now have reasons beyond just fun to be here,” says King. “And, as for missing the family, that’s the biggest myth going. Ryanair has just started flights to Granada. My family are so keen to visit that I now see more of them than I ever did when I was in England.”

As he puts the cava on ice for next week’s celebration, King says the most satisfying part of the restoration drama is the reaction of the locals. “When we arrived, a lot of people were suspicious. They kept coming and snooping on us, to check that we were using the right slate and building the right kind of Moorish-style chimney pots. ‘Have you got permission for that?’ was all we heard. Now the same people come back with cameras, asking to take pictures of ‘la casa bonita de los Ingleses’. Not bad for a couple of beginners, don’t you think?” At £145,000 for a three-bed home in the Andalusian mountains that is now worth at least double that figure, it is — oh, what’s the word in Spanglish? — un sniposo.

Self-catering flats at Cortijo Opazo are available (00 34 958 064 018, www.cortijoopazo.com) from £200 per week for up to four people

ON THE MARKET

This 0.2-acre plot is on a golf resort in Alt Emporda, northern Catalonia. A 230sq m villa and a pool can be built on it. It costs £158,000 with Your House in Spain, 00 34 932 153 110, www.yhis.com

This 1.25-acre plot with a two-bedroom house is a 20-minute drive from Alcala la Real in the Granada region. It costs £57,000 with The Mediterranean Property Agency, 01732 451 144, www.tmpa.co.uk

This three-bedroom house in three-quarters of an acre near Casares needs complete renovation. Malaga airport is an hour’s drive away. It is £207,000 with Savills International, 020 7016 3740, www.savills.com

A home built on this seven-acre plot near Tarragona can cover the 100sq m footprint of the existing derelict house. It is £43,000 from Rieres, 00 34 977 440 374, www.realitypropertyspain.com

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