WRITER and public speaker, Ron Powell, 60, served in the RAF for 32 years, for 25 of which he and his wife, Geraldine, lived in 15 houses for periods of between six months and three years.

Throughout, they updated a list of potential retirement spots and fell in love with the Vale and Ron remembers:

When we were at RAF St Athan in the early 90s, we fell in love with the coast and countryside of the Vale, and all on the doorstep of Cardiff. Over the following 10 years or so, none of the other places we lived pushed Vale from the top of our list.

So, in the months before I retired in 2005, we began visiting to look for a detached bungalow. On one of our trips, we just happened to see a sign for a new development on Barry Island.

It was on the end of a headland and as soon as we walked along to where the houses were springing up and saw the view, we were smitten. The plot we liked was going to be a semi-detached town house - nothing like a detached bungalow - so we kept looking at other areas around the Vale, but the view always dragged us back.

To cut a long story short we bought the house and, after 10 years living towards the end of Nells Point, we still love it. We walk the Island twice every day and, with changes in the tide, the light and the weather, the experience is never the same.

Forget the funfair and other attractions, for us; it is still all about the scenery, as I hope the selection of pictures taken over the years - many from our bedroom window - show.

Details about Ron's RAF career, writing and talks are on ronpowell.co.uk.

Ron Powell

Barry