My Favourite Holiday: Mairi Wilson finds serenity and space in Scotland and Spain

Mairi holidayed in Ullapool when she was young (Angus Bruce)

Mairi, 56, grew up in Greenock but now lives in Edinburgh.

After years working in marketing and education she turned to writing five years ago.

Her debut novel, Ursula’s Secret (Black & White £7.99), has gone down well and she’s now close to completing her second.

There are two places thousands of miles apart that are special for me – but for the same reasons.

That’s utter peace and quiet.

We moved down south for my dad’s work when I was young but we’d come back to Ullapool every year.

When the sun comes out (which admittedly isn’t that often!) there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

My parents, who have sadly since died, bought a house there when they retired and I go back as often as I can. My grandfather was from there so it always feels like a homecoming.

It’s just the most relaxing place to be. Although I’ll arrive stressed out, a good walk up the hill is all it takes to make you unwind.

There’s a space and serenity that really calms me.

The other place that does just the same thing is in Spain, a place that could hardly be more off the beaten track.

It’s a little village called Ferreirola in the Alpujarra mountains in Andalucia.

When I say little, it’s very little – just 38 villagers to be precise.

I first went because an English lady there was running writer’s retreats and now it’s somewhere I’m always drawn back to.

It couldn’t be further from the high rises and beaches you might think of in Spain. But you’re only an hour’s drive from Granada and two hours from Malaga, both of which are fantastic cities.

Malaga has really improved so much in the past decade or so.

Back in Ferreirola I’ve got to know the locals and they’ve got to know me.

It’s the smallest of half a dozen of what are known as the “whitewashed villages” and a lot of the houses are now deserted as people have moved away for work.

There is an amazing irrigation system, built by the Moors hundreds of years ago. The water comes from ice melt from the Sierra Nevada and you just take a bottle and fill it up.

When you sit out on one of the terraces, all you can hear is the river and the tinkling of goat bells.

Just sheer heaven.

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