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The sun is out and that can only mean one thing – it’s finally BBQ season.

But, in 2026 we should be past burnt sausages and dried up burgers, this is your time to shine with a fire-roasted menu of dreams. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is here to help with his new book BBQ, a simple guide to raise your grilling game.

Here are some of his favourite recipes…

Chicken shawarma

Serves 4

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins, plus marinating

The word baharat means ‘spices’ in Arabic, so you can either use a shortcut shop-bought blend like I have here, or make your own mix.

• 600g skinless, boneless
• chicken thighs
• 2 heaped tsp baharat seasoning, plus extra to serve
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 lemons
• 1 red onion
• 2 heaped tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 425g tin of pineapple rings in juice
• Olive oil
• 4 flatbreads
• ½ small red cabbage (300g)
• ½ bunch of flat-leaf parsley (15g)
• 320g ripe mixed-colour tomatoes

Put the chicken into a bowl with the baharat seasoning and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Peel and finely grate over the garlic and the zest of one lemon, then peel and quarter the onion and coarsely grate over one-quarter of it. Squeeze over the juice of the zested lemon, add the yoghurt, then mix and massage it all into the chicken. You can cook it right away, but it’s best left to marinate for up to one hour, or ideally overnight in the fridge.

Light the barbecue (you will need a 50/50 set-up, see panel overleaf). Break the remaining quarters of onion apart into petals. Drain the pineapple. Take your time threading the marinated chicken, onion petals and pineapple rings across two long metal skewers, alternating as you go, meaning you can cook and turn them as one. Spritz with olive oil. Place on the hot zone for five minutes, turning with tongs to sear all over.

Move to the cool zone to cook for 30 minutes with the lid on, vents open, turning every 10 minutes until cooked through. I like to prop it against a brick wrapped in foil so you can evenly colour each of the four sides. Briefly warm the flatbreads alongside, or cook through, if making your own.

Use a speed peeler to shred the red cabbage, or very finely slice. Pick over the parsley, scrunch with the juice of the remaining lemon and season to perfection. Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Slice between the skewers to help you portion up the chicken, then pile on to the flatbreads with some cabbage and tomatoes. I like to add a dollop of lemony yoghurt and a drizzle of chilli sauce, and finish with an extra dusting of baharat. Serve leftover cabbage and tomatoes on the side.

ENERGY 434kcal | FAT 15.3g
SAT FAT 4.3g | PROTEIN 36.4g
CARBS 38.3g | SUGARS 17.5g
SALT 1.8g | FIBRE 7.4g

Herby leg of lamb and creamy beans

Serves 10

Total time: 1 hour and 25 mins, plus resting

Prep: 25 mins

Cook: 1 hour

• 4 leeks
• 1 bunch of mixed soft herbs (30g), such as mint, tarragon, basil, parsley
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 50g shelled unsalted pistachio nuts
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 lemons
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 2.2kg butterflied leg of lamb, bone out (ask your butcher to do this for you)
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 bunch of sage (20g)
• 200g ripe cherry tomatoes
• 2 x 570g jars of cannellini beans
• Red wine vinegar

Soak a handful of wood chips in water according to the packet instructions. Light the barbecue (you will need a 50/50 set-up, see overleaf). Blacken the leeks directly on the coals for 10 to 15 minutes, turning halfway, then remove to a board.

Meanwhile, pick the soft herb leaves into a pestle and mortar with a pinch of sea salt, pound into a coarse paste, then peel and pound in the garlic. Roughly pound in the pistachios, then muddle in two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, squeeze in the juice of one lemon and scrunch in the breadcrumbs until combined (blitz in a food processor, if you prefer).

Lay the lamb out like an open book and massage all over with salt, black pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil.

Sear on the hot zone for five minutes, or until gnarly, turning regularly with tongs, then move to a board, skin-side down.

Massage the top with the mustard, then pat on the herby crumbs.

Peel off and discard the outer charred layers of the leeks, cut into 2cm lengths and place in a 20cm x

25cm roasting tray. Rub half the sage leaves with olive oil, then add to the tray with the tomatoes and a generous splash of water.

Carefully remove the grill and place the tray directly in the cool zone. Replace the grill, then sit the lamb, crumb-side up, on the bars over the tray. Halve the remaining lemon and tuck it under the side of the lamb nearest the coals.

Drain the wood chips and place on the hot zone with the remaining sage sprigs.

Cook with lid on, top vent half open, above the meat for 30 minutes. Carefully lift up the lamb and the grill and pour the beans into the tray, juice and all.

Replace the grill and lamb and cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes with the lid on, top vent half open, or until the internal temperature reaches 55ºC.

Remove the lamb to rest, covered, for 30 minutes (the internal temp should rise to 60ºC), leaving the beans to reduce for another 15 minutes. Mix a tablespoon of red wine vinegar into the beans, season to perfection, then slice and add the lamb. This is great with crusty bread and a green salad.

ENERGY 468kcal | FAT 23.2g | SAT FAT 8.7g
PROTEIN 35.8g | CARBS 26.7g | SUGARS 3.8g
SALT 0.9g | FIBRE 7.5g

Prawn skewers & ajoblanco sauce

Serves 4

Total time: 25 minutes

I’ve embraced some of the key ingredients of ajoblanco, a delicious cold Spanish soup, to create the perfect bed of sauce for these tasty prawn skewers.

• 16 large raw shell-on king prawns, from sustainable sources
• 120g chorizo
• 2 lemons
• 16 padrón peppers
• 200g blanched almonds
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• ½ bunch of flat-leaf parsley (15g)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pinch of smoked paprika, to serve

Peel the prawns, leaving the tails on, then run a small sharp knife down the back of each, discarding the vein. Slice the chorizo into rounds just under 1cm thick, halve and thinly slice one lemon, and prick the peppers.

Load everything up onto four long metal skewers, alternating as you go, and being mindful not to pack it all on too tightly.

Toast the almonds in a frying pan over a medium-high heat on the hob until lightly golden (or toast in a metal sieve over the hot zone, if you’ve got the barbecue lit already), then tip them into a small blender or food processor.

Peel and add the garlic, along with the sherry vinegar and 250ml of cold water. Season with sea salt and blitz until you have a thick, smooth paste, loosening with extra splashes of cold water, if needed. Spread on a serving platter.

Pound the parsley, stalks and all, in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt to a fine paste, then finely grate in the zest of the remaining lemon and muddle in four tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.

Light the barbecue (you will need a 50/50 set-up, see panel overleaf). Cook the skewers on the hot zone for three to four minutes, or until beautifully charred and cooked through, turning regularly and moving to the medium or cool zone if they colour too quickly. Transfer to the serving platter, drizzle over some parsley oil, squeeze over the remaining lemon juice and finish with a nice dusting of paprika.

ENERGY 583kcal | FAT 47g
SAT FAT 7.5g | PROTEIN 28.5g
CARBS 14.7g | SUGARS 5.3g
SALT 1.9g | FIBRE 7.9g

Romesco cauliflower

Serves 4

Total time: 35 mins

• 1 head of cauliflower (800g), ideally with leaves
• Olive oil
• 300g ripe tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 100g sourdough bread
• 460g jar of roasted red peppers
• 25g smoked almonds,
• plus extra to serve
• 1 pinch of smoked paprika
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
• 30g feta cheese

Light the barbecue (you will need a 50/50 set-up, see panel overleaf). Click off and discard any tatty outer leaves from the cauliflower, then chop it into eight wedges, spritz with olive oil, and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Put the cauliflower wedges and the tomatoes on the hot zone, and put the unpeeled garlic cloves on the medium zone. Slice the bread and place on the cool zone.

Cook it all with the lid on, vents open, for 10 minutes, then remove the tomatoes, garlic and toast to your board. Turn the cauli and cook with the lid on, vents open, for another 10 minutes, or until charred and cooked through, moving to the medium zone if colouring too quickly.

Pinch off and discard the tomato skins, putting the soft insides into a blender. Squeeze in the garlic cloves and tear in the toast. Add the peppers, juice and all, along with the almonds, paprika and two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Blitz until smooth, then season to perfection and spread across your plates.

Sit the charred cauliflower wedges on top of the sauce. Roughly chop and scatter over the parsley leaves and a few extra almonds, crumble over the feta and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, if you like.

Great with extra toast on the side, to mop up the excess sauce.

ENERGY 270kcal | FAT 13.1g
SAT FAT 2.5g | PROTEIN 10.8g
CARBS 26.8g | SUGARS 12.1g
SALT 1g | FIBRE 7.4g

Super surf and turf mixed grill

Serves 8

Total time: 45 mins

• 2 spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp baby capers in brine
• 50g tin of anchovy fillets
• ½ bunch of mixed soft herbs (15g)
• 250g soft unsalted butter
• 1 bulb of fennel
• 320g green beans
• 1 sourdough or French baguette
• 8 free-range chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
• Olive oil
• 225g chorizo
• 16 raw shell-on king prawns, from sustainable sources
• 1.2kg mixed mussels & clams, scrubbed, debearded, from sustainable sources
• 320g ripe cherry tomatoes
• 120ml white wine

To make a flavoured butter, trim and roughly chop the spring onions, peel the garlic and finely grate the zest of one lemon, then blitz it all in a food processor with the capers, anchovies and most of the soft herb leaves (or chop by hand on a board). Blitz or mix in the soft butter until combined.

Trim the fennel and cut into thin wedges, trim the green beans and slice the baguette at an angle.

Rub the chicken with two tablespoons of olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Slice the chorizo 1cm thick. Peel the prawns, leaving the heads and tails on, then run a small sharp knife down the back of each, discarding the vein. Check the mussels and clams, tap any open ones and discard if they don’t close.

Light the barbecue (you will need a graduated set-up, see panel below), or to cook with gas, ignite the left-hand burners to medium-high to create a direct zone, the middle burners to medium and the right-hand burners to low to create an indirect zone.

Place the chicken skin-side down on the direct zone, use a griddle press to press the chicken into the barbecue slate (optional), then add the chorizo and cook for 10 minutes, or until the fat has rendered out and the skin is crisp. Flip the chicken over and place it on the medium zone to cook for 10 minutes, or until cooked through (the internal temperature should be 75°C), turning regularly, then move to the indirect zone with the chorizo.

Cook the fennel in the rendered fat for five minutes, then add the green beans for two more minutes, turning until golden. Remove the beans to a board and transfer the fennel to the medium zone.

Cook the tomatoes in the sticky chicken juices for two minutes, or until blistered. Toast the bread at the same time, turning regularly, moving to the indirect zone when golden.

Tip the mussels, clams and prawns onto the direct zone. Add three tablespoons of flavoured butter and mix together. Cover with a basting dome (if using) and cook for five minutes, or until the clams and mussels have opened (discard any that remain closed) and the prawns are cooked through.

Bomb in two tablespoons of flavoured butter, add the blistered green beans back onto the direct zone and toss with the seafood, chorizo and veg.

Transfer everything to serving platters, then deglaze the slate with the wine and one tablespoon of flavoured butter, then pour the sauce over the platters.

Pick over the remaining herbs, and serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over.

The leftover flavoured butter will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge, or up to three months in the freezer. Fast future flavour awaits.

ENERGY 542kcal | FAT 31.9g
SAT FAT 11.3g | PROTEIN 33.7g
CARBS 26.8g | SUGARS 5.2g
SALT 1.7g | FIBRE 3.7g

How to set up a charcoal barbecue

Graduated

With this set-up, you want to have your coals starting high one side, creating a fierce hot zone, and gradually sloping down to a single layer of a few coals at the other, creating medium and cool zones along the way. This allows you to have maximum control over your grilling, moving food between the zones to speed up or slow down cooking as you need.

50/50

Simply pile all your coals evenly into one half of the barbecue, leaving the other half clear. This gives you a clear hot zone and cool zone, with a medium area in the middle. This set-up is helpful for recipes where you need to sear or get something going over direct heat, but then want to give it time to cook through more gently over indirect heat.

Jamie’s top tips…

For me, it’s all about the fire, so a charcoal barbecue is my natural go-to. But making the TV show I also had the pleasure of cooking on a range of different gas and electric barbecues, and I have to say I’ve been very impressed with them all. Gas can be very convenient, so I can see why so many people love it, and electric was really interesting too – plus, it’s a brilliant option if you are limited on space.

I would always recommend cooking better-quality meat less often, so you can buy the best you can afford when you do have it.

We’re naturally drawn to fire, so the ritual and performance of barbecuing extends that mealtime moment… Thinking about what equipment you need, your ingredients and recipes, the flow of everything, and how you want to serve, and getting all that sorted before you start grilling will really mean the actual act of barbecuing is much more stress-free, and you can really enjoy the ritual.

BBQ by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Michael Joseph, at £30
© Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited
(2026, BBQ). Recipe photography:
© David Loftus, 2026

Jamie’s Ultimate BBQ with Weber airs on Channel 4 from Tuesday 5 May at 8pm

O dançarino profissional está em turnê com seus colegas de elenco do Strictly Come Dancing depois de confirmar seus planos de deixar o programa da BBC

Gemma Atkinson tem mostrado seu apoio a Gorka Marquez enquanto seu canto do cisne do Strictly Come Dancing começava com uma turnê com alguns dos dançarinos profissionais do present.

O dançarino profissional, que faz parte do programa de dança BBC One desde 2016, anunciou esta semana que deixaria o programa após uma década. Ao longo dos anos, ele competiu com vários parceiros famosos, incluindo a estrela de EastEnders Tameka Empson, a cantora Alexandra Burke e a ex-apresentadora do Blue Peter Helen.

Mas no ano passado, Gorka deixou de competir na série 2025 do Strictly, com a notícia chegando depois que ele já havia sido confirmado como retornando à escalação profissional para sua 10ª temporada, quando em vez disso voltou a atuar como juiz na versão espanhola do Strictly, Bailando con las Estrellas, posição que assumiu pela primeira vez em 2024.

Agora, Gorka, que mora na Grande Manchester com sua noiva, Gemma Atkinson, que conheceu no programa em 2017, tomou a decisão de ‘se afastar’ do Strictly após 10 anos. Ele fez o anúncio no Instagram na terça-feira (28 de abril), dizendo que “será eternamente grato” por sua participação na competição de dança, mas é hora de “pendurar meus sapatos de dança”.

A notícia fez dele o quinto profissional a confirmar sua saída do common programa antes do início da série 2026 no last deste ano, com Karen Hauer, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk e Michelle Tsiakkas também confirmados como tendo deixado o Strictly.

Respondendo ao seu anúncio no Instagram, Gemma disse: “Graças a Deus você esteve no programa em 2017! Tempos emocionantes pela frente”, com o casal dando as boas-vindas a dois filhos desde que se conheceram no common programa, há quase nove anos.

Ela agora foi vista mostrando seu apoio novamente a Gorka, já que na noite de quarta-feira (29 de abril), ele foi visto iniciando sua última turnê do Strictly. Ele está entre os profissionais que participam da turnê ao vivo Strictly The Professionals, que acontece ao longo de maio e inclui duas apresentações em Salford, no The Lowry Lyric Theatre, e quatro apresentações no London Palladium.

Compartilhando uma foto de Gorka em sua história no Instagram, o apresentador da Hits Radio disse: “Noite de estreia!

In our weekly series, readers can email any questions about their finances to be answered by our expert, Rosie Hooper. Rosie is a chartered financial planner at Quilter Cheviot and has worked in financial services for 25 years. If you have a question for her, email us at money@inews.co.uk.

Question: I am looking to sell my house. What tax will I have to pay when I sell? I have no mortgage.

Answer: For most people, the starting answer is reassuringly simple: if this is your main home, you will usually have no tax to pay at all.

In the UK, your main residence is normally covered by what is called private residence relief. If you have lived in the property as your main home for the whole time you have owned it, the gain you make when you sell is exempt from capital gains tax, no matter how much the property has risen in value. In that case, the fact that you have no mortgage is irrelevant from a tax point of view. The mortgage affects what you walk away with in cash, not the tax you pay.

Things become more complicated if the property has not always been your main residence. If it was ever a second home, a buy-to-let or a property you lived in only for part of the time, then capital gains tax may come into play. The gain is broadly the difference between what you paid for the property and what you sell it for, after deducting certain costs such as legal fees and improvements. Private residence relief may still reduce the bill if you lived there for part of the time, but it may not eliminate it entirely.

Married couples and civil partners need to be particularly careful here. Between them, they can only ever have one main residence for tax purposes at any one time. If you own more than one property, you are allowed to choose which one counts as your main home, but you have to make that decision consciously.

There is a formal election that can be made to HMRC, and it must normally be done within two years of having more than one residence. Choosing the right property to live in can make a big difference to the eventual tax bill when one of them is sold.

If the property you are selling does not qualify as your main residence and capital gains tax is due, there is another important change people often miss. You no longer wait until your annual tax return to deal with it.

Since April 2020, any capital gains tax due on the sale of a UK residential property has to be reported to HMRC and paid within 60 days of completion. This deadline was originally 30 days and was later extended to 60, but it is still a much tighter timetable than many people expect. Miss it, and penalties and interest can apply.

It is also worth clearing up a common point of confusion. Stamp duty is not paid when you sell a property. It is paid by the buyer. However, if you are selling one home and buying another, stamp duty on the new purchase becomes part of the overall picture. Which property you treat as your main residence, and the timing of selling and buying, can affect whether higher stamp duty rates apply on the new home. This is another reason why it pays to think about the sequence of transactions rather than looking at each one in isolation.

The good news is that for the vast majority of people selling the home they live in, the process is straightforward and tax-free. Problems tend to arise only where a property has had more than one role, or where people assume the rules are the same as they were years ago.

If there is any doubt about whether a property qualifies as your main residence, or if you are juggling more than one home, it is well worth getting advice before you complete the sale. A short conversation at the right time can save a nasty surprise later, and give you peace of mind that you have done everything properly.

Ever since we got married, my wife and I have had our 30-year plan: work hard, give our children the best lives we can, save money, retire, move abroad and drink cocktails on the beach.

Over the decades, we’re lucky that everything has gone to plan. We’ve had great careers, kept good health, stayed in love, helped both kids get on the property ladder, earned well and built ourselves a decent nest egg. As I near 65, I am done with work, office politics, meetings and Zoom. I’m ready for my cocktail.

The only problem is my wife – who is about eight years younger than me – still has ambition, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

A decade ago, we discussed that when I turned 65 we would both retire. We definitely have the savings and investment portfolio to do so. But every time I bring it up my wife shuts it down saying she has “more to do” and the other day joked she could do another 10 years. We had a huge argument as a result. I don’t know if I have another 10 years left in me – of life, let alone work! My own dad died at 67. Life is too bloody short and now I don’t know what to do.

David, 64

***

You’re in a wonderful position in life. You’ve had lucrative careers, kept good health, helped your kids and built yourself a nest egg. None of which are easy feats. But now you’re at a fork in the road.

This is a potential huge change in your lives, and I feel for you, because suddenly the plans that you’ve been working towards for three decades are up in the air. Where does that leave you – and everything that you’ve built? Where does this leave your dreams, your fantasies, your marriage, and everything that you’ve believed and been attached to for so long?

I wonder whether you feel betrayed by your wife because she is renegotiating your agreement? It’s very clear that while you’re winding down, your wife is not. Whether it’s because she feels like she has a surplus of energy, loves what she does or maybe she doesn’t feel financially secure enough yet.

But now, rather than facing this together you’ve both dug your heels in. So take a break to let things settle, and then get back on the same side. Start by listening to her. She is clearly engaged with her life and not ready to follow you, at least not yet, not full-time.

I know it might sound obvious to state, but outside of your joint 30-year plan, your wife will have her own goals, desires, fears and worries. She is allowed to change her mind, or alter course. So I wonder what a renegotiation might look like, rather than all or nothing.

I hear you being done with office politics, meetings and Zoom. I wonder whether you need to talk to someone about ending this chapter, whether with a professional counsellor or a therapist, in a men’s group, with your friends, maybe with your wife (maybe not).

In the background of what you’ve said, I hear that your dad passed away at 67 and you’re now 64. I have worked with so many men whose fathers died in their forties, fifties, sixties, and unconsciously, all these men generally expect to die at the same age. It’s a really powerful fear and only natural that we might equate our parent’s mortality with our own. I wonder whether you feel a subconscious urgency to wind down and enjoy what you think are your final years?

I don’t feel like this is the case, by the way – I feel you will have a lot of time in this chapter.

Realistically, people don’t die as young as they used to these days with advances in medicine and health and wellbeing. Many of the men I know have found themselves with a second wind after passing the age. If you’re genuinely feeling anxious about it, go see a doctor and get a thorough health check-up. You may find it helps with some of the panic and urgency. Again, talk this through with a professional or in a men’s group. My groups are held online every day, so come talk it through with us.

With your wife being eight years younger, I wonder whether your peers and hers are doing similar, or different things. What about your health and her health? What the differences are between the two of you? It’s natural that we fluctuate, especially if we’re of different ages.

Have you asked your wife where her ambition is at? She might be pleased that you’re genuinely curious. It may be that she was only joking about “doing another 10 years”, but she does have one project she needs to complete, one promotion or pay-rise she wants to prove she can get, a difference to make before she feels ready to move on. I would hate for her to retire before she’s ready, and then resent you, or feel frustrated with herself during retirement.

Why does your wife have to go at exactly the same time as you? How would you feel going off on your own first, or going off with your friends, or doing shorter holidays together until she’s ready? It might be time for you to get to know yourself beyond your relationship and have your own adventures. Then when your wife is ready, you can bring her along and show her where you’ve been, who you’ve met, what you’ve done.

Do you both come from similar backgrounds of financial and emotional stability? You mention that you have the savings to retire, but is your wife as aware of the finances as you are? If you haven’t already, ask her about her fears. The same number in a bank account can look stable or precarious to different people depending on what they have been through. It’s important to be sensitive to her perspective.

Perhaps your wife has fears of who she might be without work. Or fears around who she might be without being a needed mother tending to the children. If her personality likes to be engaged and involved, she might fear rusting on the shelf or in a waiting room in retirement. Rather than jumping in with both feet, can you move into the next era step by step, and help her make a gentle, gradual transition? Does she have communities outside of work?

The strongest thing that I feel in your words is the love that you have for each other. But true love is unconditional, which means setting each other free to be healthy and happy, and having the space to explore your needs and desires without restriction. Good luck and good on you getting to where you are in your lives and marriage, with space and freedom to consciously grow.

I live in Barcelona, a city synonymous with the architect Antoni Gaudí. Earlier this year – in time for the centenary of his death on 10 June – the final tower was added to his masterpiece mega project, the Sagrada Familia.

As well as the inauguration of the final tower of Jesus on 10 June, when the scaffolding is finally expected to come down, there are commemorative events planned in the regional capital all year. Around five million visitors are expected at the Sagrada Familia in 2026.

However, I’ll be heading 90 minutes south of Barcelona to the birthplace of the architect, the small city of Reus in southern Catalonia. While Gaudí might not have left any work in his childhood home, Reus is a hub for Modernisme, the architecture movement he became part of, and the city is filled with buildings in this Catalan Art Nouveau style.

Where crowds swarm in front of Gaudí’s most loved buildings in Barcelona, in Reus, the Modernisme buildings are simply a part of the city and can be admired in peace.

Architecture aside, Reus is the Spanish home of vermouth, with watering holes across the city serving up this aromatic fortified wine and a dedicated museum to its heritage. Pair it with some excellent dining, thanks to an influx of chefs opening restaurants here, and you have the makings of a great weekend away.

Quick guide

Nearest station: You can fly direct to Reus with Ryanair, Jet2 and easyJet from airports across the UK. From the airport, the L50 bus runs hourly and drops you directly into the city centre in under 15 minutes (€3/£2.60 one-way). A taxi takes a similar time and costs around €20/£17. Alternatively, you can reach Reus overland by train from the UK, taking the Eurostar to Paris, then taking a TGV InOui high-speed train to Barcelona Sants and changing trains for a second time in Barcelona (journey time from about 12-and-a-half hours, depending on connections).

Transport: Once in Reus, the city is very walkable and small enough not to need public transport.

Stay: Hotel Centre Reus has views of the pretty La Prioral de Sant Pere.

Eat: Vítric, A Cullerades.

Drink: Vermuts Rofes,

Shop: Carrer de Llovera, Bimba y Lola, Jofré, Simorra

Visit: Casa Navàs, Ruta del Modernisme, Campanar de la Prioral de Reus, La Prioral de Sant Pere

More: catalunya.com, spain.info

The best place to stay

In the heart of the old town overlooking La Prioral de Sant Pere, a number of rooms at 20-bed Hotel Centre Reus have views of the pretty Gothic church. The style is contemporary and comfortable and there is a good breakfast spread and accessible rooms. Doubles from €72 (£62).

The best places to shop

The elegant central street, Carrer de Llovera, is home to a number of stylish addresses including notable names such as fashion brand Bimba y Lola and smaller, independent boutiques – check out Jofré and Simorra for curated edits of Spanish styles.

The lunch break

At Vítric, young chef Xavier De Juan’s creative Catalan-inspired cuisine has caught the attention of Michelin inspectors, earning it a recommendation in the guide. At lunchtime, the €35 (£30) menu del día (daily-changing menu) is an affordable way to get in on the action with three courses, wine and coffee. Expect plates such as oxtail gyoza with pickled vegetables, or cod brandade cannelloni.

The best things to see and do

The jewel in Reus’s Modernisme crown is no doubt Casa Navàs. This spectacular former private home, built in 1901, is a feast for the eyes, with stone pillars carved into towers of flowers, intricate walls of mosaic tiles that make up large frescos and light pouring through vast expanses of colourful stained glass. Designed by the father of Modernisme and teacher of Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the house maintains all the rooms and the original furniture. It is available to visit daily via regular guided tours in English (entry €16/£13.90).

The best place for an drink

Making vermouth since 1890, Vermuts Rofes was a pioneer of the aperitivo and played an important part in making Reus such a hot spot for the drink. Crafted from fortified white wine with a secret blend of aromatics, a glass of the good stuff can be enjoyed very close to the source, thanks to the restaurant-bar and charming outdoor terrace attached to the Vermuts Rofes distillery.

The best place for dinner

For some traditional grandma-style Catalan cooking, book a table at A Cullerades. Here you can feast on classic tapas such as patatas bravas and pan con tomate as well as local delicacies such as botifarra, a traditional pork sausage. Don’t miss the quintessential Catalan desert of fresh mató cheese, honey and walnuts.

The best spring walks

Explore the city’s architecture on foot by following the self-guided Ruta del Modernisme. Pick up a map at the tourist office in Plaça del Mercadal and follow the heritage trail throughout the city, taking in 30 different Modernisme buildings en route. The paths are flat and smooth, making it accessible to all.

Three things you might not know about… Reus

1) Reus was such a powerful trade hub for wine and spirits in the late 18th century that people would commonly say the phrase: “Reus-Paris-London”.

2) The city is home to one of Catalonia’s most prestigious castells teams, where adults and children compete at festivals to build human towers up to eight people high.

3) It takes 230 steps to reach the top of the hexagonal Gothic bell tower of the church Campanar de la Prioral de Reus.

RSP revelará opinião sobre o candidato CM do Congresso somente se questionado após os resultados da pesquisa: Shibu Child John

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Years ago, sitting in my 500 square foot, two-bedroom flat that my friend and I paid $2,000 [£1,480] per month to rent in downtown New York, I looked around. The kitchen was a hallway, the “living room” was just a corner, cabinets were falling apart, taps leaked and there was a lingering smell of unknown origin that permeated every room.

Inspecting the dilapidated ruin around me that I worked 10 hours a day to pay for, it struck me that being a landlord was a job that gave you money for nothing.

Throughout my twenties, I went from one mouldy box to another, spending half my salary for the pleasure of living in squalor. When things broke they were rarely fixed, and at my price point it was always shocking to find a kitchen or bathroom that had been installed before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Through all my renting years, I’ve never met any of the landlords of any of the properties I’ve lived in. They were always faceless entities hiding behind generic emails or office assistants. Getting them to fix anything was like trying to get a sugar-fuelled child to bed; a tiring uphill battle with no end in sight.

Sometimes a handyman would stop by, but only in matters of extreme emergency. I once lived through a hurricane and no one ever checked in to confirm that there hadn’t been a flood or that the windows weren’t hanging from a nearby tree. And of course, for their tireless work doing essentially nothing there were always the inevitable annual rent hikes every year, and the heart attack of moving out; that one errant nick to the wall might wipe out an entire four-figure deposit.

So, when I met my husband and the topic of his side gig as a landlord came up, I was at first scared that I was now in cahoots with the devil. What kind of murky morals did this man have? How many tenants did he have cooped up in sunless rooms with wallpaper flopping from the walls?

My righteous liberal outrage, however, soon gave way to lofty dreams of luxury upon finding out that he owned an array of houses. 10 houses. Now, visions of lobster lunches and yacht weekends sped through my mind as I pictured the extravagance awaiting me when I became the partner of a landlord; lady of the land. But alas, I was wrong on both counts.

In the seven years since I met him, I’ve learned that he is not in fact evil and that his (begrudging) tenure as a landlord has brought him far more pain than champagne.

My husband inherited the houses when his mother died in 2012, and they were the result of a long journey of scrimping and saving in an effort to develop a portfolio of properties. Her hope, ultimately, was to pass them on to her sons, and for the houses to create a financial safety net for them and their families.

When she had a stroke in 2010, my husband took over their management. He remembers leaping into action in her hospital room, juggling caring for his mother with calls from agents bearing bad news about leaks and broken appliances. Unlike the landlords I’d previously encountered, my husband panics whenever he hears of a problem with his houses, becoming immediately obsessed with resolving it lest the sheer knowledge of their existence jolt him awake at 2am.

In his time as a landlord, he’s dealt with hoarders, loft squatters and had a tenant who lied about breast cancer and left the house with £11,000 in unpaid rent. He’s had new tenants arrive and complain about a single errant grain of rice, only later to leave the house in total disarray.

One tenant put a boot through a ceiling, another left a piece of cardboard adhered to the floor after urinating on it. Which is all to say that he’s seen his fair share of weird and wild things.

Far from raking it in, any income my husband brings in stays locked within a bank account for his properties in case of emergency, as one leak, or minor disaster can easily empty the account. About £600 per month from rental income is put towards nursery costs for our children, but the rest of it remains ensconced away in a bank, waiting for something to go wrong.

And if there isn’t a drama (there usually is), then the money put aside goes towards taxes on his properties – which in a good year is low (if there’s been enough repairs to obliterate any income).

While I understand that some landlords are in the financially enviable position of owning several houses (there are, of course, many people who never even get to own one); I’ve come to realise that they often don’t live the extravagant lifestyle I once believed them to.

There is, of course, a huge variety out there when it comes to landlords; rich ones, poor ones, attentive ones, neglectful ones – but for the ones, like my husband, that try to do the job well, it’s a lot of work to navigate the red tape, evolving regulations and unending repairs. And with the rising costs of labour and materials to do any kind of improvements, the monetary incentive to manage properties is far less attractive than it once was.

Over the years, my husband’s started selling off the houses, feeling a wave of relief once each sale is completed. Between the stress of managing them and the relatively small return he makes, the properties have become an emotional and financial drain – rendering them too much hassle to keep.

There’s always a window sill to paint, gutter to clean, light to fix, or suspicious smell to investigate – and when my husband gets off the phone with an estate agent, tenant, handyman, or builder, he usually exhales deeply as the light behind his eyes softly dims.

Since I met him, he’s sold all but one house, keeping the least problematic one that helps with nursery costs. And while I still bear some grudges against my old landlords, I now have a bit of sympathy for them. Not much mind you, because they didn’t ever fix anything; but I’m sure they still had their own fair share of headaches.