After Cambridge Matthew Parris worked for the Foreign Office before becoming a Conservative MP in 1979. He resigned seven years later, after which he was the parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times for thirteen years. He is now a columnist for The Times and the Spectator, and is also a frequent broadcaster.
His highly acclaimed autobiography was published by Viking in 2002, and his most recent book Parting Shots, a collection of diplomats' final despatches, is now available as a Penguin paperback.
He divides his time between a flat in London, a house in his former Derbyshire constituency, and the house in Spain which is the subject of this book.