I’ve just returned from a week in Essaouira, a small place on the coast of Morocco. Essaouira is an artist’s dream for impromptu sketching, vibrant colours and excellent photo opportunities. You can even buy natural pigments to mix your own paints with from the souks (more of that later).

Morocco is an accessible place easily reached from London. Essaouira is on the coast north of Agadir and takes about 3 to 4 hours to get there on the bus from the airport. The flight takes roughly about the same time from London. The locals speak several versions of Arabic and Berber, but most seem to speak French. You can get by on schoolgirl French quite well as long as you know some basic vocabulary, such as numbers, types of food and how to say, “No I don’t want to buy a carpet thanks”.

I recommend the hotel Riad al Medina in Essaouira, although it is not good for disabled travellers as you have to negotiate lots of steps (even to get to the shower). There are several restaurants throughout the town and one that has a rooftop bar (Taros), so you won’t go hungry not even during Ramadan.

The beach is long with clean sand and you can bask in hot sunshine almost year round. The sea is great for surfers as the wind tends to whip up some large waves, although this is not so good for those just wanting a tranquil swim.

I took hundreds of photographs, too many to include here, but if you want to see a selection then visit my web page how to fill a sketchbook: a visit to Essaouira