Mission accomplished! Great fans since the days of the food and drink show on British television, we wanted to meet Jilly Goolden at the Homes and Gardens Show in early October at the Trade Fairs and Congress Centre of Malaga. And we did! We went up to her, introduced ourselves and told her how much we had enjoyed her television shows over the years. She was as charming and lovely in person as we had expected her to be and she suggested that we attend one of her wine tasting sessions at the Museo del Vino stand later in the day. “Gently swill the wine around your glass,” she advised the pressing crowd, once our glasses had been charged and she had discarded a dicky pair of headphones and grabbed a radio microphone instead. “Dive in with your nose and take a deep sniff,” she said. “I’m getting strawberry,” she added excitedly, every bit as lively and entertaining as we remember her from the telly. It is no wonder that she is the most well-known and highly respected wine taster in Britain. “This grape is known in Australia as Shiraz, but is better known in Europe as Syrah.” It smelt delicious and her sparkling enthusiasm filled us all with eager anticipation. “Now this might seem a little ungainly,” she laughed, “but you need to sip the wine next, roll it all around your mouth, purse your lips and breathe in as you suck and swallow.” Concentration. Silence. Very funny faces and then great hilarity as we all watched each other being seriously ungainly. The second bottle was even more delicious, which we thought was nicer that the more expensive third example. The crowd was pressing in too eagerly now and we were popped, like champagne corks, out of the crush, finding ourselves suddenly at the back, very happy though that we had seen one of our all-time heroes in action. And the rest of the show? Were there any other attractions? You bet! And we set to with gusto. As well as other television stars, such as the very popular Charlie Dimmock, Kevin Woodford, Eric Knowles and John Sandon, there was a stunning variety of stalls to visit, some friends from Alora, Sarah and Kenneth who market the ingenious spray cooling system Keep Your Kool, and Jamie and brother-in-law John of Cocinas La Molina, as well as countless others, such as Country Life Magazine, Hammockology, the obesity fighting Ziga Zaga, The Little Beer Company, Annie Sloan interior design, Setanta Home Improvement, Quadmoto, Dunnes Stores, Sur Newspaper and Gardening Services (British), to name but a few. A great day out. Lots of friendly chat. Plenty to see. A definite date for next year too.