Amanda and Alan swap Italy for Spain in their boldest renovation yet
Amanda Holden and Alan Carr are swapping Aperol for sangria as they renovate a “big but do-able” house in Andalucìa
Ed Grenby - 14 January 2025
After two series renovating rundown old properties in Sicily and Tuscany, you two have decided to switch to Spain. Why, was it something the Italians said?
AMANDA No, we’d just drunk them dry! Basically, they ran out of Aperol so we had to leave.
ALAN Some people might use the word “deported”… But no, Spain is a genius move, as it’s still the show people love to watch – where Amanda and me do up an old pile in the sunshine and sell it on, with the proceeds going to Comic Relief and Children in Need – but different, because there’s no pasta this time.
AMANDA So different! The house is in an Andalusìan village called Moclín, and we had no idea about the Moroccan influence down there, as well as the whale-watching, the skiing, the waterfalls, the Sierra Nevada mountains, Granada… I feel like not enough people go to Granada for the weekend. Everyone b****rs off to Madrid or whatever, but Granada is just beautiful, and the tapas bars are amazing.
ALAN We fell in love with the place on the first day of filming, didn’t we? We got off the plane and drove straight to an orange grove, and by six o’clock that evening we were up ladders picking oranges. You have to stuff them down your top, so I looked like Dolly Parton or Cupid Stunt [a spoof character from the late Kenny Everett’s TV show].
The property you’re renovating looks like quite the challenge. In the first episode, Amanda, you describe it as “Big, but do-able. Like Alan.”
ALAN Oh, that stayed in the cut, did it?
AMANDA It’s a compliment! But yes, we upped the ante for this series: it’s a much bigger building and we decided to turn it into a B&B and sell it as a business.
So, when Casa Al-Amanda takes its first guests, who is making the beds and who is making the bacon and eggs?
ALAN Amanda’s got form in the B&B business, as her family used to run one, and she was the chambermaid. She’s really happy folding up linen and plumping up cushions. I’d be more front of house, like Basil Fawlty, doing all the “ Hello, bonjour” stuff.
AMANDA Or maybe “Hola!”. You’re more Manuel than Basil…
AMANDA [Passable Prunella Scales voice] Ooh, I know!
ALAN We didn’t bicker too much, though; we were on the same page about most things. There was just one room we were both quite passionate about, and neither of us would budge. And let’s just say that one person got in there quicker with their ideas while maybe someone else was having their lunch…
AMANDA Well, maybe let’s also talk about the time somebody nicked somebody else’s idea… Easy now.
How did the two of you spend your time off?
AMANDA Alan was looking for a house there to buy himself, as a little side project. Because there’s so much to see and do out there: in Moclín, you’re not far from the coast or the mountains; you’re about 30 minutes from Granada, and from the airport. Seville’s a few hours away, you can go down and get the ferry to Morocco, and there are these lovely little whitewashed villages. And the beaches are amazing. They’re so massive and empty, it’s like the Moon. We went to one, Tarifa, that’s the best beach I’ve ever been on.
ALAN There were a few karaoke nights out in Malaga, too – Wuthering Heights or Stayin’ Alive for me; Don’t Cry for Me Argentina for Amanda. But even in Malaga, which gets slagged off as having too many Brits, we found some lovely quiet nooks. There was this little family-run place on the beach where you pay for the food by how many plates you eat, and he’s had to put in a concrete floor because people kept hiding the plates under the sand! That was a real hidden gem.
So, would you go back? Perhaps holiday there together?
ALANWe do holiday together! Last year we shared a villa on Corfu.
AMANDA You can see it on Instagram. We met up with [Britain’s Got Talent 2024 winner] Sydnie Christmas, and we went “donutting” on the water, but Alan couldn’t fit in his donut. That video’s had 17 million hits!
ALAN I broke the internet… and the donut.
AMANDA But we have been back to Moclín already, actually – to film next year’s Christmas special of the show. And we liked it so much, we took our families: my husband and kids and parents came out. In fact, my mum and dad went out on a bender there with Alan’s mum and dad. It was gorgeous – and also just a real relief to see that everything we had put up in the house was still up!
After two series renovating rundown old properties in Sicily and Tuscany, you two have decided to switch to Spain. Why, was it something the Italians said?
AMANDA No, we’d just drunk them dry! Basically, they ran out of Aperol so we had to leave.
ALAN Some people might use the word “deported”… But no, Spain is a genius move, as it’s still the show people love to watch – where Amanda and me do up an old pile in the sunshine and sell it on, with the proceeds going to Comic Relief and Children in Need – but different, because there’s no pasta this time.
AMANDA So different! The house is in an Andalusìan village called Moclín, and we had no idea about the Moroccan influence down there, as well as the whale-watching, the skiing, the waterfalls, the Sierra Nevada mountains, Granada… I feel like not enough people go to Granada for the weekend. Everyone b****rs off to Madrid or whatever, but Granada is just beautiful, and the tapas bars are amazing.
ALAN We fell in love with the place on the first day of filming, didn’t we? We got off the plane and drove straight to an orange grove, and by six o’clock that evening we were up ladders picking oranges. You have to stuff them down your top, so I looked like Dolly Parton or Cupid Stunt [a spoof character from the late Kenny Everett’s TV show].
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The property you’re renovating looks like quite the challenge. In the first episode, Amanda, you describe it as “Big, but do-able. Like Alan.”
ALAN Oh, that stayed in the cut, did it?
AMANDA It’s a compliment! But yes, we upped the ante for this series: it’s a much bigger building and we decided to turn it into a B&B and sell it as a business.
So, when Casa Al-Amanda takes its first guests, who is making the beds and who is making the bacon and eggs?
ALAN Amanda’s got form in the B&B business, as her family used to run one, and she was the chambermaid. She’s really happy folding up linen and plumping up cushions. I’d be more front of house, like Basil Fawlty, doing all the “ Hello, bonjour” stuff.
AMANDA Or maybe “Hola!”. You’re more Manuel than Basil…
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Which makes you Sybil, Amanda…
AMANDA [Passable Prunella Scales voice] Ooh, I know!
ALAN We didn’t bicker too much, though; we were on the same page about most things. There was just one room we were both quite passionate about, and neither of us would budge. And let’s just say that one person got in there quicker with their ideas while maybe someone else was having their lunch…
AMANDA Well, maybe let’s also talk about the time somebody nicked somebody else’s idea… Easy now.
How did the two of you spend your time off?
AMANDA Alan was looking for a house there to buy himself, as a little side project. Because there’s so much to see and do out there: in Moclín, you’re not far from the coast or the mountains; you’re about 30 minutes from Granada, and from the airport. Seville’s a few hours away, you can go down and get the ferry to Morocco, and there are these lovely little whitewashed villages. And the beaches are amazing. They’re so massive and empty, it’s like the Moon. We went to one, Tarifa, that’s the best beach I’ve ever been on.
ALAN There were a few karaoke nights out in Malaga, too – Wuthering Heights or Stayin’ Alive for me; Don’t Cry for Me Argentina for Amanda. But even in Malaga, which gets slagged off as having too many Brits, we found some lovely quiet nooks. There was this little family-run place on the beach where you pay for the food by how many plates you eat, and he’s had to put in a concrete floor because people kept hiding the plates under the sand! That was a real hidden gem.
So, would you go back? Perhaps holiday there together?
ALAN We do holiday together! Last year we shared a villa on Corfu.
AMANDA You can see it on Instagram. We met up with [Britain’s Got Talent 2024 winner] Sydnie Christmas, and we went “donutting” on the water, but Alan couldn’t fit in his donut. That video’s had 17 million hits!
ALAN I broke the internet… and the donut.
AMANDA But we have been back to Moclín already, actually – to film next year’s Christmas special of the show. And we liked it so much, we took our families: my husband and kids and parents came out. In fact, my mum and dad went out on a bender there with Alan’s mum and dad. It was gorgeous – and also just a real relief to see that everything we had put up in the house was still up!
Take a look at our holidays to Spain and follow in the footsteps of Amanda & Alan yourself!