BEAUTIFULLY AT HOME IN HER 'ANDALUSIAN PARADISE' VERONICA SCHMIDT INVITES US INSIDE HER IDYLLIC FAMILY RETREAT ON THE COSTA DEL SOL AND REVEALS HER DESIGN SECRETS

Veronica Schmidt describes her family's home on the Costa del Sol as "an Andalusian paradise".

- NANA BOTTAZZI

The children's author adds: "When I first walked through the door of this estate, I gasped at the sight of the walls covered with blooms, as if it were straight out of my story The Kingdom of Flowers." Of course, this being Marbella, there's plenty of glamour mixed in with the magic. When it was built in 1968, the villa stood alone at the foot of the Sierra Blanca mountains, but today it looks out over millionaire's playground the Golden Mile. In its first decades, it witnessed what was once a pretty village take off as a jetset destination, and was itself the venue for many of that era's legendary parties.

If history is all part of the house's charm, so of course is the climate.

For Veronica and her husband Michael, whose MHS Group of luxury car companies spans Austria, Germany and Romania, the sunshine is a huge draw.

"We come here in summer and in winter, as well as during our 12-year-old daughter AnneKathrin's school holidays in autumn and spring. Funnily enough, my favourite season here is winter," Veronica says.

You're from Moldova and Michael is from Romania. What first brought you to Marbella, Veronica?

"We decided to spend our summer holidays at the iconic Marbella Club, which we loved because of the warmth of its Andalusian style. I said to my husband: 'Sometimes luxury is hidden in simplicity."

Then in 2016, you bought this house. How did you find it?

"As we explored the town with a local driver, we started talking to him about architecture, and I said I preferred the original low-whitewashed houses because I appreciated their authenticity, untouched by the modern world.

He told me there wasn't much of that style left, but he knew that one of the older villas was for sale."

Was it love at first sight?