EXCLUSIVE: A Place in The Sun star Jasmine Harman opened up about her huge Spanish move during an exclusive chat with Express Online – and she has a major warning.

Jasmine Harman had a life-changing chat with Jonnie Irwin which ended in tears (Image: Getty)

A Place in the Sun’s Jasmine Harman has cautioned buyers: “Don’t delay”, as she shared in an exclusive interview with Express Online about how her late co-star Jonnie Irwin’s painful death had first prompted her to move to Spain. Currently living in a “complete wreck” in the Costa del Sol, surrounded by builders, as she films scenes for her upcoming series, Jasmine’s Renovation in The Sun, she explained the reason she’d taken the plunge.

Jonnie’s cancer diagnosis made her realise that too many people wait until retirement to live their dreams, and that death might cheat her out of hers if she didn’t make the move she yearned for now. “His diagnosis kind of made me realize that anything can happen any day and and life is so precious that you should be doing the things that you want to do all the time. I think you’ve got to live for the day,” she revealed.

She had a poignant chat with Jonnie when he went out to the Costa del Sol with her to mark his 50th birthday, just months before his tragic lung cancer death – and he urged her not to wait.

Jasmine and Jonnie had worked together for years before his tragic cancer death (Image: Getty)

“We just had a really lovely time on his birthday with his family and my family, and he would say, ‘You know, if you’ve got a dream, then make it happen, do it.’”

Speaking from A Place in the Sun Live at London’s Excel Centre, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last week, she shared: “Jonnie used to come to these events all the time and we would say that to everyone: don’t miss the opportunity, don’t waste this chance.

“You’ve only got one life, you’ve got to live it to the full – that’s the way Jonnie would say it. Don’t delay. Do what makes you happy.”

Jasmine also shared: “I think quite often my house hunters have had some sort of a catalyst like a health scare or a bereavement too, which has inspired them to think, ‘Let’s do it, let’s not wait any longer.’

Jasmine Harman will return to A Place in the Sun Live later this year to help more buyers (Image: Getty)

“The pandemic was a big one for a lot of people – I know it made me think that there must be more to life than this. Anything could be around the corner, so why not live for the day in the way that you want to?”

Jonnie died in February 2024 of terminal cancer less than four years after being diagnosed, after the disease spread from his lungs to his brain – and it has taught Jasmine a powerful lesson about the importance of using time profitably.

Although it took her six months to fully settle in to her Spanish home, she says she’s had a warm reception from the locals, and believes anti-British sentiment over there is “exaggerated”.

The only aspect of Spanish culture she hasn’t fully immersed herself in now is the siesta, with the chuckling broadcaster admitting she’s far too busy with work to sleep in the middle of the day.

Meanwhile, as she continues to renovate her home, she has a few words of advice for Brits looking to follow in her footsteps.

“I definitely didn’t want a renovation project but I’ve ended up with a renovation project because I couldn’t find another house that I liked that was already done. I couldn’t afford a house that I liked that was already done!” she exclaimed.

Warning people not to set their expectations unrealistically high and to be willing to compromise to make their dreams come true sooner rather than later, she suggested: “The biggest mistake that people make is expecting to find something perfect when it doesn’t actually really exist.

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“There’ll always be something that you wish you could change. If you look for perfection, you’ll never get it whereas you might find a place that’s not perfect, but will do perfectly.”