Life’s journey took Karen to Spain at 60

Irish woman set up horse trekking company in Malaga and adapted to rural custom, says Richard Fitzpatrick

IRISH woman Karen Considine, 60, went to Malaga, in the south of Spain, in November 2006, for four days to see if she would live there. She had retired a few years earlier to look after her mother, who had a stroke. Karen had previously toured the world on the polo circuit.

Malaga is beautiful and lush, near Ronda, a favourite haunt of Ernest Hemingway, and is perched on the southernmost tip of Andalucía. It looks onto the Atlas Mountains in northern Africa. It’s the cheapest part of Spain to live.