Our family party consisted of eight adults (ages 25 to 78) and two babies both under six months old. As you can imagine, given the age spread, expectations were different for most of us but we need not have worried. All of our needs were surpassed as we wallowed in luxury for nine whole days. I would have said it was a home from home except that at home I don't have five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a swimming pool, huge gardens.......

All of the fixtures, fittings and furniture are of the highest quality. I was particularly impressed with the small touches that mean a lot when you are on holiday - the docking station so I could play the ipod, the satellite receiver and TV, the laundry facilities, extra fridge freezer (we called it the drinks fridge) etc etc. The air-conditioning was superb and much-needed in the 30F+ as was the surprisingly big pool. The parasols provided ensured the babies always had shade when necessary.

Another big plus for us is that we had no issues with security - the nature of the entire neighbourhood is welcoming with no evidence of criminality. You can't buy peace of mind but we had it.

Sometimes you read a villa description and it boasts that the beach is 100m away. Ten minutes later you are still walking to the beach! This is a genuine 100m and what a lovely beach it is too. There are enough bars and restaurants within a ten minute walk to keep everybody happy - our particular favourites were the Chicken Rib Shack and the Lebanese restaurant - name escapes me but Nigel, the house manager (and a handy point of reference for most things), will tell you the name.

We did not hire a car and just arranged private transfer to and from Malaga Airport. Our one worry is how we would get shopping (and booze) for eight people from the supermarket. Worry not. The Supersol will deliver your shopping same day - if you go before noon (excluding Sunday) or next morning if you shop in the afternoon. Try the croissants and pan de chocolat from the garage at the top of the road where you can also buy that day's English newspapers after 11 a.m.

We all agreed that the villa was the nicest that we had stayed in and we had a really lovely time - no disasters, no bad food experiences, no encounters with bugs etc. Whilst we will not be having the large family group holiday again next year, we hope to go back to Casa Laurana in the future.

Finally, thanks to Janet for a beautiful villa and to Nigel for all of his local knowledge.