Dawn Punter

Welcome to a journey that did not go to plan, but went exactly where it needed to.

Welcome. If you are here, you might already know a little about my life on Spain’s Costa Tropical.

Or perhaps you simply enjoy stories about taking a leap, beginning again and finding a life that feels more like your own.

Either way, I am glad you found your way to this space.

This series, The Slow Road to Andalucía, is the story of how my husband and I left our sensible, structured lives in the UK and slowly, almost accidentally, created a new one in rural Andalucía. There was no grand plan. Just two backpacks, cleansing of all our belongings and a growing sense that life needed to change.

What followed was a mix of slow travel, long bus journeys, staying with locals, border crossings and unexpected discoveries.

Eventually we decided to settle in a lush green valley between the Sierra Nevada and the sea, and took on a quirky old cortijo with woodworm furniture, leaking everything and an orchard full of tropical fruit we barely knew how to grow.

It is a story about renovation in its loosest sense. Yes, there was a leaky window or two, far too many religious statues and electrics that defied logic, but it was also a renovation of self. A rebalancing. A return to a simpler rhythm. The land, the orchard, the mountains and the seasons had more to teach us than we ever expected.

Along the way I fell in love with cooking, writing and the slow magic of making something from scratch. That journey eventually led to Dawn’s Plant Kitchen, my cookbooks and the world of Alba and her journals.

The tone here is warm, honest, occasionally funny and always grounded in the real textures of life. Expect sensory writing, stories from the orchard, glimpses into rural life, quiet moments of reflection and the occasional disaster that becomes funny once the dust has settled.

I will be sharing these chapters bi-weekly. Some will be short snapshots, others longer stories that stand on their own. Together they trace the path from burnout to belonging, from classrooms and conferences, to soil and kitchen, from uncertainty to a life that feels hand built.

I hope you enjoy the journey.

Dawn (aka Alba)