Bartlett's Ocean View Farm

The city of Almeria in the Andalucia region of Spain, is steeped in history and culture. It has been used for location shoots for a number of films, including Lawrence of Arabia, Leone’s “dollar” trilogy and Blindman. Not as traditionally popular with tourists as other areas of Spain, it is nonetheless well worth a visit, not least for being the birthplace of one of the most enduring songs of the sixties.

In 1966, director Richard Lester was casting for his satirical black comedy, How I Won The War. Having worked with the Beatles on A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, he saw the cinematic potential of John Lennon – not just as a crowd draw, but as a witty deliverer of laconic dialogue, something that came naturally to him. Lennon was cast as sarcastic, glib ex-fascist Musketeer Gripweed, and the film began shooting in Almeria in September.

There are a few Lennon locations which any Beatlefan pilgrim must see. The locations for the shoot were Carboneros, Cabo de Gata and Tabernas, to which Lennon showed up every day, regardless of whether or not he was in the scene.

The beaches of Almeria are known as El Zapillo, and it was here that Lennon lodged in a small apartment called El Delfin Verde (The Green Dolphin), and began work on his most progressive work yet, Strawberry Fields Forever. El Manzanilla was a nearby restaurant frequented by the cast of the film, and it was here where Lennon’s 26th birthday was celebrated in October. Ringo Starr came out to Almeria for the event, and to keep John company on set. It was decided that the Lennons and Ringo should move into a bigger place.
Described in Cynthia Lennon’s book as a haunted house, Santa Isabel was the place where Lennon recorded the first demo’s of Strawberry Fields. It’s wild garden was left to grow even wilder for 30 years, until local journalist Adolfo Iglesias discovered its historic significance. It is now being restored by Almeria council and will soon become a public cultural centre.

The kernel of the idea for Strawberry Fields Forever was brought back to England after filming on How I Won The War was finished, and developed into one side of the Beatles strange and wonderful new single. Something had happened to John Lennon to make him move away from his impeccable but ultimately straightforward pop songs of the early sixties. Perhaps it was merely age or – as is often cited – his discovery of LSD, but it’s hard not to give some credit at least to the abundance of time he had on his hands shooting this curio of a film in southern Spain. The time to reflect in the exotic surroundings  of Almeria certainly would’ve done no harm to the creative process, and when you visit the place, it’s easy to see why.

Flymonarch offer cheap flights to Almeria. For travel insurance try AA. Use a company like Lastminute.com for car hire so you can move around freely – there’s no Beatle Bus tour in Almeria as yet.

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Online shopping has becoming more and more prevalent in today's society.  Practically anything can now be bought with nothing more than a click of a mouse button. Online shops sell anything and everything from shoes to second hand goods on Ebay. One market area that is becoming big business online is the travel market; however, with purchasing flights and holidays online precautions should be taken, as there is often a larger amount of money involved.

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One way of avoiding this is to visit a travel comparison site such as Dealchecker.co.uk where you can be assured that the travel companies listed are legitimate companies. Meanwhile, if you’re specifically searching for cheap flights, then Cheap Flights.co.uk is a good site for price comparison between a number of providers. Furthermore, it’s worth having a look at holidays provided by Travelzoo – this website compiles all of the best bargains on the internet in one place, so you don’t need to trawl the web and spend hours searching for a bargain.  

When dealing with online comparison sites remember that they make their money from the travel companies they display only once a ticket is purchased. Fraudulent companies are very unlikely to want to pay a price comparison site to display their non-existent 'offers'.  Also the best travel price comparison sites have spent a lot of time building up their reputation, to become a market leader - one slip up could serious damage this.

Once a cheap flight has been found you will be redirected to another website.  For example if you were looking for a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe you could be redirected to Flymonarch.co.uk, for example, an airline company specialising in European air travel, where you will then book and pay for your ticket. As an extra security check, it’s worth exploring the site you are redirected to to find details on who runs the company or to call their customer service number for further reassurance.

The most common thing for people to worry about is the use of the credit or debit card. However, in recent years, online credit card use has actually become quite safe.  As long as the website has been checked out then there really shouldn't be any problems. Most banks now offer insurance in the unfortunate event of credit or debit card fraud so if something should go wrong then the customer’s bank should be contacted immediately.

Banks now spend a lot more on improving their security – for example, it is common for the number on the signature slip on the back of the card to be entered along with other details. This makes it even more difficult to fraudsters. Some banks, such as Natwest, even require further verification after card details have been entered.  Commonly this is one of the standard tests that banks use to confirm your identity; a mother's maiden name or the customer's date of birth.

The final thing that could be an issue is that the majority of companies now email tickets to their customers. The customer will need to make sure that the usual email precautions are adhered to - namely that no one else is given access to their inbox, and being extra vigilant on 'public' computers such as those in the work place.

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