Sadly, Janet died in Nuero/traumatologia in Granada, following a serious stroke which she suffered in her house in Cazulas.

Janet Ryles (09/03/1941 – 18/06/2022)

Janet was 81 years old and seemed to be endowed with so much energy and kindness. Her first encounter with Spain was Easter 1986 when she and her husband, Brian, rented a house between Otivar and La Cabra.

They had come to Spain to practise their Spanish in readiness for a GCE examination. Imagine their bewilderment when they first heard Andaluz spoken in the village which seemed to have little to do with the Castilian Spanish of the classroom.

But it did nothing to diminish their love of the facinating village of Otívar. Within a couple of years they had become the fervent owners of a chalet in Cazulas. It took a bit of time and effort to transform the wreck of a house that they had bought into the Spanish foothold of their dreams.

Over the next 30 years they spent long holidays getting known by the locals as the new owners of Ben Boult’s place, He never actually owned the place, but he spend many hours throwing empty gin & whiskey bottles from the balcony into the garden.

Janet threw herself into the social life of the ladies of the village, going to Spanish evening classes for the older, illiterate ladies, or attending, with much more enthusiasm, the cookery lessons for the village matrons.
She became a member of the Ladies Group in the village and, whenever there was a trip organised somewhere, she never failed to book her place, even persuading her husband to join her if there were other men also ‘roped in.’

There can’t be many foreigners who have committed themselves so fervently and happily to the way of life and customs of their second homes, as she did to Otivar.

She will be genuinely missed by all her friends in the village and her neighbours in the little enclave along the Río Verde near the Fábrica Sierra.

Editorial note: this article will also be published in the August paper edition.

(News/Obit: Janet Ryles)