Welcome to Angel Caves.
I’m Miguel Angel and it seems like only yesterday that my wife Rachael and I decided to change our lives completely by moving from busy South West London to the beautiful and peaceful Vega de San Mateo in the mountain regions of Gran Canaria, in actual fact it’s been over three years now!
When we found out that Rachael was expecting our first child, a long-awaited and already much loved baby to join our family, Team Angel, we realised that we’d never be able to give this child the love and attention they deserved if we kept up our hectic London lifestyles. We were both running our own businesses and worked long hours to sustain them. How would we afford childcare costs on top of our mounting bills? Could we afford to lose one salary? If we split parenting between us, one taking on daytimes while the other worked, and vice versa, would we ever see each other and get to spend time as a family? We had so many worries and concerns and so we got to talking about our options and what changes we could make.
It was not the first time that moving abroad had come up, we’d mentioned it briefly right after brexit but it didn’t feel like the right time or with the right motivations, but now, we could definitely imagine living somewhere nice and warm, having a bit more outdoor space for children to play and maybe growing our own veggies. With close friends living in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, Rachael and I visited as often as we could. I’d lived and worked in Las Palmas in the past, tattooing at my best friend’s studio and so I was familiar with the capital and the beaches that lined the coast but none of these areas seemed quite right for us and our search extended into the mountains and central regions of the island.
It didn’t take long until we found the cave house in Las Lagunetas; with it’s stunning views, orchards and vineyard we fell in love immediately and knew that we had to put an offer in. Things started to move pretty fast and two months later we were the proud new owners of our very own home. We didn’t make the move until Leon was three months old, he’s almost four now and we have just welcomed baby Poppy into the Angel clan. The Cave House has seen a great many changes and we continue to renovate and improve our dream home. We completed the work on The Captain’s Cabin in 2021 and opened it up to guests through Airbnb and Booking.com. We were amazed at its success and so decided to open up a second unit, The Orchard Retreat, a unique glampsite nestled amongst the pear trees with a spectacular view over the mountains. We’ve so many dreams for the property and hope to expand our glampsite too, we’d love to share our mountain adventures with you…
Miguel Angel x
Miguel is the handy man of the team and he is pretty great at turning his hand to almost any job! Plumbing, electrics, carpentry, bricklaying, you name it, there is nothing Miguel hasn’t tried, and he’s always got Google or YouTube open to help him learn a new skill when it’s something he hasn’t attempted before. Miguel loves drinking wine and rum! He also loves collecting antiques and curiosities, especially bones and skulls and terrorising Rachael by having his collections in every room of the house! He hates being lazy, Miguel is always on the go, and he is particularly terrible at being ill, although thankfully this doesn’t happen often as he has the immune system of a shark! (Apparently sharks have excellent immune systems!)
Rachael is the creative brain behind Team Angel and the only member of the clan not to share the Angel name. Rachael is to crafting what Miguel is to DIY and she will literally turn her hand to any crafty pursuit with just a quick YouTube tutorial beforehand. She particularly enjoys sewing and is excited to start adding mosaic to every blank surface outside the house! Rachael loves all things vintage and her favourite era for fashion and styling is the 1950s. She’s also quite partial to a gin and tonic! Rachael dislikes sweetcorn, this is not something she plans on growing at the house, and she wishes that suncream was free for people with a pale complexion as it will probably bankrupt her living in sunny Gran Canaria!
