From the 24th to the 27th August the Feria Real dominated the town of Rute once more. A truly family affair where babes in there pushchairs to Grandmothers in their finery take to the square to enjoy the festivities. It never fails to delight to see many of the young children (and some of their more elderly relatives) dressed in traditional style flamenco dress.

The teenagers run in desperation for the next car on the dodgems, or one of the other ‘rides’ that when throwing you into the air would give most of us ‘more mature’ people a heart attack. The younger ones just spend what seems like ages going round and round on the less ’vigourous’ rides or bouncing on ‘elastic camas’.

Everyone shares the spit roasted whole chicken, served on a platter with fried peppers and chips, accompanied by the obvious cold beer. Freshly fried churros coated in sugar was also in abundance – more than one making you feel a little sick unless you have a really sweet tooth.

There is always something to buy – a toy that will break in a few hours but keeps every child happy until then - or a fake bag or watch that will keep every adult happy until that inevitably breaks too. All good fun though!

For the night birds, the live entertainment and dancing goes on way into the small hours. Not for everyone but the Spanish love a party and why shouldn’t they. A great time is ‘always ‘ had by all!