“A Place in the Sun” in Mallorca.
Lucy is an interesting person having lived in many locations around the world. She can add to that a starring role when “A Place in the Sun” decided to film house-hunters in Mallorca.
All about Lucy and why she chose to live in Mallorca (a 2nd time!).
Name: Lucy Hawkins
Age: 46
Country of origin: England
Number of years in Spain: 2 months
Hi Lucy! You’ve lived in many different places. Please tell me about yourself and how you ended up moving (back) to Spain
I grew up in England with my English father and Australian mother. I studied Journalism at university in London and worked at Cosmopolitan UK magazine before moving into TV production as an Art Director. When I was 29 I left London to see the world. I went to Mexico to teach English, then entered Bermuda on a secretarial visa and volunteered at the theatre, dressing the theatre sets and writing plays. Then I got a job on a magazine in Argentina and then after a few years away I came back to the UK and went on holiday to Mallorca with my friend. I loved it. It had the excitement of Latin America and the proximity to friends and family in England.
I wrote for a few magazines on the island and Euro Weekly newspaper as well as presenting on then English language radio station, Luna Radio. But after a year in Palma winter was drawing in and all my yachtie friends were moving on and I decided to also. I went to New Zealand where I got signed by a modelling agency and did a bit of TV presenting. Then I moved to Australia and worked in advertising, then started my art business, met my now husband, James, had two daughters and wrote a children’s book. Life was sweet but I couldn’t stop thinking about Mallorca – the sea, the pueblos, the church bells and cobblestones. The fiestas, the food, the people, the light…I wanted that for my girls, and for me and my husband.
You’ve mentioned just taking part in the filming of “A Place in The Sun”. Can you tell us about that?
When we arrived on Mallorca a friend shared a post from A Place in the Sun. They were looking for house-hunters in the Balearic Islands, and I applied with the same gusto I tackle most things, but not really expecting to hear back. But, they emailed me, then arranged a video call, then a screen test and within a few days they said they wanted to film us and were we available in two weeks’ time! James, sensibly, thought we had enough going on, but we were looking for a house and neither of us like to miss an opportunity.
On our first day of filming we dropped the girls off at summer camp and headed to Port de Pollenca to be interviewed on camera about our life journey, why we had chosen Mallorca and what kind of house we were looking for.
The presenter, Laura Hamilton, and crew instantly made us feel at ease. They took us to 5 different houses where our reactions to them were filmed, several times over from every angle. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked in TV and I’d forgotten that we had to ‘cut!’ and stop filming every time there was background noise, which felt like every 5 seconds. A month ago I was reasonably deaf to the myriad of sounds around me, now all I hear are lawn mowers, screaming children and building sites!
It took a couple of days to get the hang of being in front of the camera, we were trying to be ourselves but also on our best behaviour. Laura was recognised by a lot of the British holidaymakers and so she and the cameras pulled quite a crowd. When the Director asked us to walk across the Placa Mayor, packed with dining tourists and seemingly all of our new local friends, James looked like he wished the earth would swallow him whole.
But despite the embarrassment of our new ‘fame’, the experience was proving to be beneficial.
The show’s research team had found us properties that weren’t yet advertised and we viewed houses we hadn’t liked the look of online, but that were much more interesting in the flesh. We completely fell in love with one of them. You’ll have to tune in when the episode airs early next year to discover whether we bought it.
What’s your criteria for where you’d like to live in Mallorca? You previously lived in Palma…I assume having kids you’re now looking to settle in a different kind of setting?
Yes, it’s an entirely different experience this time around. I was 30 when I lived in Palma, a journalist, single and independent. I lived in Palma’s old town, La Llonja, in a tiny apartment on the first floor of an 18th century terrace. It was decrepit but had bags of character, albeit very hazardous wiring. An old friend from Palma told me that they’ve all since been renovated and are as a result much more expensive. I’m not sure the yachties can afford it anymore and I wouldn’t have been able to so I’m glad I had that experience when I did.
With my first pay cheque I bought a small, 2nd hand car that I named Big Red. I got freelance writing assignments for lifestyle magazines on the island and nipped around in Big Red interviewing musicians and actors and reviewing restaurants and bars. It was a wonderful time.
I swam 65kms around Formentera with 200 others to raise money for cystic fibrosis charity, Respiralia, and I joined a yearly pilgrimage walk with 10,000 people walking through the night from Palma to the old monastery in Lluc, 50km away. I really wanted to explore every inch of the islands.
I still love an adventure, but now I get to do it with my husband and daughters. When we moved back here two months ago we thought Palma was too busy, so we chose Pollenca in the north of the island where we can climb mountains and feed goats. We’re enamoured by the town and its routines; the local bars with the senior Mallorquins drinking coffee and discussing the football, neighbourhood women talking on their front porches, the sound of the church bells and the closed shutters after long family lunches for siesta.
We walk to school with the girls’ new school friends. We know our neighbours’ names and help one another out. There’s a wonderful community here. And we’re surrounded by stunning mountains and sea. For the kids it’s the ultimate playground.
You’ve been a journalist, a radio presenter, you do art and you’ve even written children’s books. Can you tell us about that?
When I met my husband and had my first daughter, we moved to a small country town in Victoria, Australia, where we were surrounded by wildlife. I was so inspired by it that I started painting; kangaroos, koalas, kookaburras and cockatoos, developing my own style with bold, block colours. I created a website to sell prints and greeting cards of my work and then began printing on fabric, making a tea towel and apron line which is now sold in stores around Australia.
You can see Lucy’s art at www.lucyhawkinsart.com
It was towards the end of my second pregnancy that we watched the devastating bushfires rage through Australia. I wished I could fly in and save everything and decided to write a children’s book based on the idea.
And then Covid 19 struck and my second daughter was born the day before the first Melbourne lockdown. While things on the television were terrifying, having my husband at home enabled me to write the children’s book in between caring for my daughters. It progressed to a 26,000-word novel for middle grade readers.
The pandemic went on and on obviously, and Melbourne became the longest locked down city in the world. But my book was finished and after I sent it off, I got an offer from a publisher in London. I was thrilled, children other than my own would read my story about two little girls from Australia who rescue endangered animals on Earth and take them to Planet Beatrice, where woolly mammoths roam and children make the rules. It’s a rollicking fantasy adventure with pirates and rainforests and it’s educational, without kids even realising that it is. The sequel comes out in November.
Note: The Salvager’s Quest by Lucy Hawkins is available online at Waterstones, Blackwells, Amazon, Dymocks, Readings, Booktopia, Barnes & Noble, Indigo and Buscalibre.es.
We applied for Digital Nomad Visas to live here as I can keep selling my prints, tea towels and aprons on my website as well as writing my books. It also allows my husband to work for his Australian company remotely.
Do you have a lot of expatriates moving to Mallorca? Where do they come from? Is there a “particular type” of expat who chooses Mallorca as their place of residence?
Mallorca has always been very popular with tourists and expats, but some areas are more touristy than others. There are places where no one speaks English and others, mainly on the coast, that are tourist destinations and have more seasonal residents. I read recently that a good way of knowing if you’re eating at a local’s restaurant is if the menus aren’t in German and English.
Ten years ago there was a huge German and British population, but I believe that has declined. Now the majority of ‘extranjeros’ are Moroccans, Argentinians, Colombians and Italians. I love the diversity, it’s what I want for my children. But when it came to schools, we chose the local one rather than an international option. I want our family to integrate and learn Mallorquin culture and language. The teachers and children at the school have been so kind and welcoming that the girls skipped to school every morning before they broke for the summer holidays. The affection they’ve received at school and that we’ve all received from our neighbours has really softened the pain of leaving friends and family behind.
The expats I’ve met in Pollenca have had similar motivations for moving here as us – the weather and the magic of the island.
Mallorca seems to have a reputation as a “party place”. Is that limited to a certain area?
Yes, Magaluf is where the young Brits go, it’s packed with bars and nightclubs. I avoided it when I was 30 so I’ll definitely be skipping it now. Although I just had the frightening thought that I’ll probably be having to pick up my daughters from outside a club there when they’re teenagers, something to look forward to!
How do you like to keep busy with the family? What activities do you like to do on Mallorca that are kid-friendly?
Since the girls have broken up for the holidays they’ve been doing a series of summer camps where they’ve zip-lined, learnt archery, been horse riding and sailing. We go to the beach and swim most days, my husband has a boat licence, so we’ve hired a little motorboat and explored the coast, dived off it and snorkelled. We’ve been back to the monastery at Lluc and climbed the steep hill outside of Pollenca to see the pueblo from the convent at the top, the Puig de Maria. Hike, swim, eat, repeat seems to be our thing.
A few evenings a week we walk down to the Placa where the local kids run around and eat ice cream. There’s usually live music or a fiesta and parade. The culture is very family friendly and Pollenca feels very safe. Kids and grandparents walk the streets late at night when it’s cooler. It’s as if the town is theirs.
What is the weather like in the Mallorca? Is it dry? Humid? Any particularities that differentiate it from mainland Spain?
We’ve only been here two months and it’s steadily been heating up. So far we’ve noticed that it will build until the temperature hits 30 and then there’s a storm and a deluge where we follow the locals’ leads and put wooden rain guards against our front doors to stop the water pouring in. I like that detail, that and the constant sweeping of dust that the hot winds known as the ‘calima’ bring from the Sahara Dessert. I always feel very Mallorquin when I sweep. It’s the little things, like taking pride in your house, watering your plants on your balcony ledges and saying ‘hola’ to people you pass, that really makes me feel connected to the town.
Being on an island, do you ever feel isolated in Mallorca?
No. I felt very isolated in Australia, instead Mallorca feels like a perfect size and distance from the UK and mainland Europe. Growing up in England, a two-hour drive seemed like a terrible idea, but in Australia it’s nothing. So for us, exploring Mallorca’s 3640 square kilometers is going to be fun.
Where do you see yourself in the future Lucy? Do you think you’ll still be in Mallorca in 10 years from now?
I do see us still in Mallorca in 10 year’s time, I hope that’s where we’ll be. I can’t see the charm wearing off and I won’t move the girls and subject them to another school change again unless they want to. We’ve always told them that in 3 years we’ll vote on where we want to be. I’m not so secretly gunning for Mallorca.
Thanks for doing this interview Lucy!
Lucy’s art is available at www.lucyhawkinsart.com. “The Salvager’s Quest” by Lucy Hawkins is available online at Waterstones, Blackwells, Amazon, Dymocks, Readings, Booktopia, Barnes & Noble, Indigo and Buscalibre.es
Want to be interviewed on Mapping Spain? If so send us an email or leave a comment
Related: What’s it like living in the Canary Islands?
Leave a Reply