Throughout my adult life the majority of major decisions have been made on ‘gut feeling’. First, I have to make the decision, whether it is right or not is then confirmed by how I feel inside knowing the decision I have made.
When we decided to move to Spain, it felt right. It has felt right at every stage so far. The decision to reserve a property at San Juan de los Terreros felt right. We had now decided on the house we would buy and paid our reservation fee. We had all the plans to take home with us and we had put the pin into the site plan in the site office to say this was ours. We now knew where we would be living in Spain – we had reserved a plot on Calas Del Pinar. It wasn’t built yet, but at least we had moved one step forward. http://www.tarletonproperty.com/property/id/20009
To celebrate, we walked down onto the promenade and had coffee sitting outside a bar in the autumn sunshine, listening to the waves rippling onto the beach and visualising life here. Wonderful!
It was now time to head back towards Murcia and leave Almeria behind us, but we would be back next month.
Once we were back in Murcia we decided we would go back and have a further look around the houses at Los Alcazares, and to take some photos so we had something to refer to when we were back home.
Having done this, Dan suggested we go back to the Fish Restaurant and eat a celebratory meal there. It was Monday and so it was unlikely to be busy. We drove up and sure enough there were plenty of parking spaces free.
With great promise of great seafood we got out of the car and walked over to the restaurant door …… only to find it was closed on Mondays! It would seem we are not to eat here on this trip.
Instead, we went out to Roda Golf course. We had played Roda last time we were in Murcia and it is a lovely course. The club house is only small at the moment, but it did serve good food, we had eaten there when we played so we had a good meal over looking the 18th green, watching to see how many would take the courageous shot over the water to the green and how many would play safe. Neither Dan or Russell are golfers so some of the enjoyment we got from eating there was lost on them, but it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours before heading off to the airport.
And the Fish Restaurant – well, we would be back – and now know not to try Sundays or Mondays.
Sunday 30 December 2007
Thursday 27 December 2007
To buy or not to buy?
Monday morning dawned, yet another sunny day with beautiful views across the golf course, I can certainly get used to this in October.
We arrived in San Juan and Dan took us for a drive around the perimeter of the development. As yet, we weren’t allowed on site due to the level of construction taking place. The first few phases were well on the way to being built. The road around part of the development is already done so we were able to get quite close. There is also a nice park area with lots of trees planted, a new area for the weekly market and we could see where the school and sports facilities are going to be.
Next stop was the sales office so we could look at the plans, the layout of the development, look at the prices, the availability and start to chat over how it was beginning to look to us.
We looked at a few plans and decided we would be interested in a 3 bed semi, which would have a roof terrace and a balcony from each of the upstairs bedrooms. We looked at the full plan of the house and the available plots, at the model of the site and the list of items included in the price. We both liked what we were seeing and decided to have a wander outside to talk about it, just the 2 of us. Although there was no show house for us to view we had seen the houses at Los Alcazares that were built by the same developer and were happy with the build standard. We really loved the place and the location of the house was perfect for us. Walking distance to the beach, the golf course, the local shops plenty of places to walk the dog, and the house had all the outside living we had been looking for.
We decided we would ‘go for it!’
We arrived in San Juan and Dan took us for a drive around the perimeter of the development. As yet, we weren’t allowed on site due to the level of construction taking place. The first few phases were well on the way to being built. The road around part of the development is already done so we were able to get quite close. There is also a nice park area with lots of trees planted, a new area for the weekly market and we could see where the school and sports facilities are going to be.
Next stop was the sales office so we could look at the plans, the layout of the development, look at the prices, the availability and start to chat over how it was beginning to look to us.
We looked at a few plans and decided we would be interested in a 3 bed semi, which would have a roof terrace and a balcony from each of the upstairs bedrooms. We looked at the full plan of the house and the available plots, at the model of the site and the list of items included in the price. We both liked what we were seeing and decided to have a wander outside to talk about it, just the 2 of us. Although there was no show house for us to view we had seen the houses at Los Alcazares that were built by the same developer and were happy with the build standard. We really loved the place and the location of the house was perfect for us. Walking distance to the beach, the golf course, the local shops plenty of places to walk the dog, and the house had all the outside living we had been looking for.
We decided we would ‘go for it!’
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Dinner for 2!
The Valle del Este hotel has a commercial complex at the side with a couple of bars, restaurants and a few shops and we decided to eat in one of the restaurants there and meet up with Russell and Dan later. We had all the brochures from the various properties we had seen over the last 2 days and also a map of the area so we could familiarise ourselves with where they all were relative to the coast, airports and larger towns, oh, and golf courses!We went through each one and were able to quickly discount a few, either because the property wasn’t right for us or the place wasn’t. We both agreed that we wanted to be in Almeria rather than Murcia and we both really liked San Juan. We decided that we would visit the site office on Monday when they were open and take a look at the development in more detail. If it didn’t fit the bill, we would be back in a month so it wasn’t too much of a worry, but we both liked the houses by the same developer that we had seen at Los Alcazares and the area was perfect for us. We would be able to take the dog for walks along the coast, be close to golf courses and in walking distance for local shopping, a weekly market in walking distance and only 10 minutes drive to a large town. This was definitely sounding like a place to (semi-) retire to.By the way, the restaurant was fabulous, we thoroughly enjoyed the food and Neil got really involved with his crab, lobster and other types of seafood on the menu – cutlery not needed, hands are much more effective.So, we decided we would go back to San Juan and have a further look around, visit the site office, look at the site plans and see how we felt then. We would then decide what our next step would be.Off we went to let Russell and Dan know how we wanted to spend Monday, before we flew back to the UK on Monday evening.
The Fish Restaurant – Part 1.
It was getting reasonably late on a very warm Sunday afternoon and Dan said he had a fabulous restaurant that he wanted to take us to that did great fish. We knew as soon as we arrived that it was going to be busy as there was no where to park at the front, and we ended up somewhere round the back. The restaurant is rather on the large side and obviously very good as there wasn’t a table available and at least an hour wait. So, we were not going to be eating there today! Still, we would be in the area tomorrow, we’ll have dinner there tomorrow before we fly home.
It still left us in need of somewhere to eat and just across the road was a lovely square with a little café so we sat outside in the square and drank in the atmosphere; a cold beer, a good sandwich and a few chips and we were happy travellers.
We had now finished our viewings in Murcia and headed back towards Almeria. The change in landscapes is quite dramatic and we both preferred the landscape of Almeria, but liked the houses at Los Alcazares. Neil really liked the house at Arboleas, I really liked the villa on the golf course but none of them were ticking enough boxes. One more place to visit and then we would have some talking to do. We already had a second trip planned for early November so if we didn’t find a place on this visit, it wasn’t too concerning.
We sat back to relax as Dan began the long drive back to Almeria, it had been quite nice to be chauffeured around and it had all been very relaxed although it was obvious that Dan had put a lot of thought into the planning of our viewing trip and with all the comments I had read on the internet about the pressure put on you during a trip, I was pleasantly surprised how informal and relaxed our weekend had been.
We passed Aquilas and crossed into Almeria. The first place you reach is San Juan de los Terreros, a small coastal town. Dan drove us up to the castle where we got a good view across the bay, the beach and the development that he had brought us to see. Now, you don’t like to let on too much too early, but both Neil and I immediately liked the place and wanted a look around.
The development was being built by the same builder that had built the houses at Los Alcazares, so that seemed a good start. We went down to have a look around the area; we had a walk along the new promenade, went out to a couple of coves, and drove along the front. We had a drive around the perimeter of the development and around the new golf course that is being built. The site office had closed for the day so we were unable to have a look at the plans but if we decided that this was somewhere we were interested in we could call back the following day before travelling back to the airport, as our flight wasn’t until the evening.
So, we had now seen all the areas and properties that Dan had planned for us and we now needed time to decide how we wanted to spend Monday. Whether there were any properties we wanted a second look at, whether there were any areas we wanted to go back to or indeed any areas we wanted to see for the first time. Russell suggested that Neil and I should have dinner alone that evening so we could discuss what we wanted to do without any pressure from them.
So, dinner for 2 it is…….
It still left us in need of somewhere to eat and just across the road was a lovely square with a little café so we sat outside in the square and drank in the atmosphere; a cold beer, a good sandwich and a few chips and we were happy travellers.
We had now finished our viewings in Murcia and headed back towards Almeria. The change in landscapes is quite dramatic and we both preferred the landscape of Almeria, but liked the houses at Los Alcazares. Neil really liked the house at Arboleas, I really liked the villa on the golf course but none of them were ticking enough boxes. One more place to visit and then we would have some talking to do. We already had a second trip planned for early November so if we didn’t find a place on this visit, it wasn’t too concerning.
We sat back to relax as Dan began the long drive back to Almeria, it had been quite nice to be chauffeured around and it had all been very relaxed although it was obvious that Dan had put a lot of thought into the planning of our viewing trip and with all the comments I had read on the internet about the pressure put on you during a trip, I was pleasantly surprised how informal and relaxed our weekend had been.
We passed Aquilas and crossed into Almeria. The first place you reach is San Juan de los Terreros, a small coastal town. Dan drove us up to the castle where we got a good view across the bay, the beach and the development that he had brought us to see. Now, you don’t like to let on too much too early, but both Neil and I immediately liked the place and wanted a look around.
The development was being built by the same builder that had built the houses at Los Alcazares, so that seemed a good start. We went down to have a look around the area; we had a walk along the new promenade, went out to a couple of coves, and drove along the front. We had a drive around the perimeter of the development and around the new golf course that is being built. The site office had closed for the day so we were unable to have a look at the plans but if we decided that this was somewhere we were interested in we could call back the following day before travelling back to the airport, as our flight wasn’t until the evening.
So, we had now seen all the areas and properties that Dan had planned for us and we now needed time to decide how we wanted to spend Monday. Whether there were any properties we wanted a second look at, whether there were any areas we wanted to go back to or indeed any areas we wanted to see for the first time. Russell suggested that Neil and I should have dinner alone that evening so we could discuss what we wanted to do without any pressure from them.
So, dinner for 2 it is…….
Saturday 1 December 2007
Inspection Trip! Day 2.
Sunday morning saw us up early and off on the drive back up to Murcia. On today’s agenda was a development of multi-coloured houses, a development at San Cayetano of villas, quads and apartments, this would be our first chance to see what a quad house looks like. It would also give us an opportunity to compare the Murcia landscape with that of Almeria and try and decide where we wanted to live. Dan had told us that one of the developments we would be visiting were also building another development that we would visit towards the end of the day. We arrived at our first destination where we were viewing a couple of key ready houses, a 2 bed and a 3 bed – one slight problem, we arrived half an hour before the office opened for us to get the keys, bearing in mind it was Sunday and things started a little later than the day before. Next to the office was a small, very quiet square, with trees casting shadows to protect from the warmth of the sun. Dan suggested a coffee while we waited. Well, remember my comment about when we arrived and how the hotel they had arranged for us definitely made a good impression, well this was definitely at the opposite end of the scale. Whilst the coffee was perfectly drinkable, it wasn’t exactly Starbucks! But sitting in a Spanish square in the autumn sunshine was extremely relaxing and definitely felt good!
Anyway, coffee over, keys collected we went to look around the multi-coloured houses at Los Alcazares. We looked around the 2 bed first and immediately liked the feel of the place, it had some great features and had terraces outside the bedrooms which is a definite plus for us and it had a roof terrace –another box was getting ticked. We then went across the road and after trying to get into the wrong house we entered a house that I immediately started to visualise our furniture in. It was lovely inside and had lots of outside living space. It had an unusual, but very attractive courtyard out the back that concerned me little as we were planning to have a dog, and so our own perimeter was preferable, but we both liked the house a lot.
We then went off to have a look at San Cayetano, again a great development but we decided that the style of the villas and quads didn’t suit what we were looking for, the apartments however would make a great investment place for holiday letting. It was so convenient for the airport, coast and golf. One for the future maybe.
We then had a trip to the new United Golf Resort at La Tercia, no we weren’t going to be buying there, but we did get to see the development, the crazy driving range which will be over a lake where the floating balls are brought back on a wave machine – and definitely a lottery win would see us on this development. What a place! We will definitely be playing golf there when it’s ready.
Ok, next – 1st instalment of the Fish Restaurant!
Anyway, coffee over, keys collected we went to look around the multi-coloured houses at Los Alcazares. We looked around the 2 bed first and immediately liked the feel of the place, it had some great features and had terraces outside the bedrooms which is a definite plus for us and it had a roof terrace –another box was getting ticked. We then went across the road and after trying to get into the wrong house we entered a house that I immediately started to visualise our furniture in. It was lovely inside and had lots of outside living space. It had an unusual, but very attractive courtyard out the back that concerned me little as we were planning to have a dog, and so our own perimeter was preferable, but we both liked the house a lot.
We then went off to have a look at San Cayetano, again a great development but we decided that the style of the villas and quads didn’t suit what we were looking for, the apartments however would make a great investment place for holiday letting. It was so convenient for the airport, coast and golf. One for the future maybe.
We then had a trip to the new United Golf Resort at La Tercia, no we weren’t going to be buying there, but we did get to see the development, the crazy driving range which will be over a lake where the floating balls are brought back on a wave machine – and definitely a lottery win would see us on this development. What a place! We will definitely be playing golf there when it’s ready.
Ok, next – 1st instalment of the Fish Restaurant!
Wednesday 28 November 2007
The Inspection Trip! Day 1.
Friday evening we flew out to San Javier airport in Murcia and were met by Russell and Dan from Tarletan. They told us we had a drive of just over an hour and as it was dark we wouldn’t get a chance to see any of the area. So, we took advantage of the time and discussed what the plans were for the next 3 days. Dan had arranged a number of viewings for us on Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday was free for us to re-visit any areas we wanted a second look at or any areas we still wanted to see.
After an hour travelling on a very quiet motorway we arrived at our destination – Valle del Este golf resort. Now, I can understand them wanting to start the trip with a good impression – but this really is a nice place. We had a room overlooking the golf course which, both Neil & I being keen golfers, was good and bad – good as we could chill on the balcony watching the players coming up the fairway at the end of a hectic day viewing properties, bad because we were really jealous that we hadn’t got our clubs with us! But, we will be back with clubs on another trip.
We were spending Saturday looking at places in Almeria and Sunday in Murcia. So we started Saturday by meeting a local agent who took us first to view a re-sale mid-terrace house, a key ready detached villa, a re-sale detached villa and a detached house off plan and a villa on Valle del Este itself. One in a small town, a couple inland and one remote in the hills. None of them ticked enough boxes, but we were quickly identifying where we didn’t want to live. Don’t get me wrong, they were all nice places but not right for us. We both loved the villa on the golf course but it was right at the top of our budget and only 2 bedrooms when we ideally wanted 3 – plus we picked up so many golf balls from the garden that we would never have had to buy a golf ball again, but we would have worried about sitting out in the garden having a glass of wine incase of mis-hit tee-shots landing close by, a real concern. Neil loved the detached house at Azerbache and it was nice, but I didn’t have the same positive feel about it, I felt it was a bit small. The villa set way in the hills was really nice with spectacular views but you would need to use a car to get a paper or loaf of bread – too remote. So, by the end of Saturday I have to admit to feeling a little dis-appointed. Not to worry, we still had Sunday
After an hour travelling on a very quiet motorway we arrived at our destination – Valle del Este golf resort. Now, I can understand them wanting to start the trip with a good impression – but this really is a nice place. We had a room overlooking the golf course which, both Neil & I being keen golfers, was good and bad – good as we could chill on the balcony watching the players coming up the fairway at the end of a hectic day viewing properties, bad because we were really jealous that we hadn’t got our clubs with us! But, we will be back with clubs on another trip.
We were spending Saturday looking at places in Almeria and Sunday in Murcia. So we started Saturday by meeting a local agent who took us first to view a re-sale mid-terrace house, a key ready detached villa, a re-sale detached villa and a detached house off plan and a villa on Valle del Este itself. One in a small town, a couple inland and one remote in the hills. None of them ticked enough boxes, but we were quickly identifying where we didn’t want to live. Don’t get me wrong, they were all nice places but not right for us. We both loved the villa on the golf course but it was right at the top of our budget and only 2 bedrooms when we ideally wanted 3 – plus we picked up so many golf balls from the garden that we would never have had to buy a golf ball again, but we would have worried about sitting out in the garden having a glass of wine incase of mis-hit tee-shots landing close by, a real concern. Neil loved the detached house at Azerbache and it was nice, but I didn’t have the same positive feel about it, I felt it was a bit small. The villa set way in the hills was really nice with spectacular views but you would need to use a car to get a paper or loaf of bread – too remote. So, by the end of Saturday I have to admit to feeling a little dis-appointed. Not to worry, we still had Sunday
Saturday 24 November 2007
Planning an inspection trip.
We planned to fly out to Spain for a weekend at the beginning of October and spend a few days trying to narrow down the town we would want to live in. We knew we wouldn’t want an apartment as we were planning to have a dog – more on that later. We wanted a place with plenty of outside living, after all we were moving to a part of Spain with lots of days of sunshine – we wanted to be able to enjoy it to the full.
Russell asked me for a shopping list of property types and areas we would like to visit and he planned our trip, booked our flights and arranged for the hotel – I think the only things we had to do was confirm the dates we wanted to go, give an indication of what we wanted to see and tell them what we hoped to achieve.
Our shopping list included Mojacar, Arboleas, Turre, Mazzaron, San Cayetano and a selection of duplex, villas, and town houses. Oh, that’s something you need to understand – what a duplex is, what a bungalow is etc. generally a duplex is a terrace or town house or an apartment on 2 floors, a quad is 4 houses built together, one on each corner, a bungalow is a property on one floor, but it may have others built above it, a finca is a rural property - so it is really important to understand what the various types of property are. It took us ages to identify what some of the terms meant.
It seems very odd leaving all the arrangements to someone else, I am by nature an organiser. We were to be met at the airport and taken to the hotel and we had the option of arranging our own car to use or to let Tarleton drive us around. We chose to let then do the driving, after all we didn’t know the area and it would take us a lot longer to visit the various places. Russell had assured us that we would have plenty of opportunity to have time on our own so that we wouldn’t feel pressured, which was important to us.
So, on Friday 5th October we found ourselves at East Midlands airport, case packed and a lot of expectations……
Russell asked me for a shopping list of property types and areas we would like to visit and he planned our trip, booked our flights and arranged for the hotel – I think the only things we had to do was confirm the dates we wanted to go, give an indication of what we wanted to see and tell them what we hoped to achieve.
Our shopping list included Mojacar, Arboleas, Turre, Mazzaron, San Cayetano and a selection of duplex, villas, and town houses. Oh, that’s something you need to understand – what a duplex is, what a bungalow is etc. generally a duplex is a terrace or town house or an apartment on 2 floors, a quad is 4 houses built together, one on each corner, a bungalow is a property on one floor, but it may have others built above it, a finca is a rural property - so it is really important to understand what the various types of property are. It took us ages to identify what some of the terms meant.
It seems very odd leaving all the arrangements to someone else, I am by nature an organiser. We were to be met at the airport and taken to the hotel and we had the option of arranging our own car to use or to let Tarleton drive us around. We chose to let then do the driving, after all we didn’t know the area and it would take us a lot longer to visit the various places. Russell had assured us that we would have plenty of opportunity to have time on our own so that we wouldn’t feel pressured, which was important to us.
So, on Friday 5th October we found ourselves at East Midlands airport, case packed and a lot of expectations……
Wednesday 21 November 2007
Research 3: Coastal, mountains or somewhere in between?
Most people would love to live near the coast, walking distance to the beach sounds idyllic – but – how busy would it be in the summer, would we have trouble getting anywhere for tourists? Maybe we should go into the Mountains, but would it be too remote, would we feel isolated, as new comers to an area, surely it would be better to have some neighbours and local shops in walking distance? Maybe halfway between the 2 would be the best place – we needed to get over to Spain and have a good look round. So, next stage – take the plunge and make contact with agents promoting properties for sale – but get ready, once contact is made your phone will never stop ringing.
Over the course of a few weeks during summer we made contact with several different agents, went to Overseas exhibitions and started to narrow down companies that we felt comfortable working with. There is no doubt that the overseas market is highly competitive and once you are their lists, you will get a lot of pressure to book an inspection trip and you really need to be clear on what your objectives are and be confident to stick to your plan. Fortunately, among the people we had been in contact with, we came across a company in Northampton that we had never heard of, but happened to have a decent website with properties in the area we were looking at and who seemed to take an interest in what we were looking for and who spent time discussing our reason for the move. After several conversations, many e-mails and property details we decided to take the plunge. We invited Tarleton Properties to come and meet us so that we could make a final decision whether we could work with them on this major life change.
Russell came through one evening and we had a good discussion about the area we were considering, our dilemma about how to choose where to live and what we wanted to buy, our budget and various other aspects of the move. After a couple of hours we were happy that we could work with Russell and Tarleton and started to plan our trip to Spain.
Check out the Tarleton website at www.tarletonproperty.com
Over the course of a few weeks during summer we made contact with several different agents, went to Overseas exhibitions and started to narrow down companies that we felt comfortable working with. There is no doubt that the overseas market is highly competitive and once you are their lists, you will get a lot of pressure to book an inspection trip and you really need to be clear on what your objectives are and be confident to stick to your plan. Fortunately, among the people we had been in contact with, we came across a company in Northampton that we had never heard of, but happened to have a decent website with properties in the area we were looking at and who seemed to take an interest in what we were looking for and who spent time discussing our reason for the move. After several conversations, many e-mails and property details we decided to take the plunge. We invited Tarleton Properties to come and meet us so that we could make a final decision whether we could work with them on this major life change.
Russell came through one evening and we had a good discussion about the area we were considering, our dilemma about how to choose where to live and what we wanted to buy, our budget and various other aspects of the move. After a couple of hours we were happy that we could work with Russell and Tarleton and started to plan our trip to Spain.
Check out the Tarleton website at www.tarletonproperty.com
Sunday 18 November 2007
Research 2: Where does it rain least?
Both Neil & I set about checking property websites with properties to sell. We needed to see how much somewhere to live would cost us and the Internet is certainly an easy way to do this. We wanted to live somewhere we could get to the coast within half an hour and wanted to be on the Mediterranean coast, somewhere not too overdeveloped and still with a very Spanish feel. Somewhere with dry weather and plenty of golf. We had previously visited the Murcia region so started looking at places there.
One thing you have to get used to is that the quality of photos on Spanish properties is really poor compared to those used in this country when selling property and it did cross my mind there was a business opportunity for a photographer over there. Some rooms were so dark; it made me wonder what the seller was trying to hide. It became obvious very early on that bedrooms in Spain are just that; there is room for a bed – just! However, with most properties having an element of outside living, the rooms sizes were not as important as here (I’m starting to sound like an Estate Agent on here, although I cannot decide what the opposite to ‘deceptively spacious’ is! The other thing I couldn’t get used to is that there are no room sizes quoted as we do – everything is measured in square meters. Now, considering that I have no spacial awareness whatsoever, it was very difficulty for me to know how big a house with 95m2 of living space actually was. I need to stand inside a room to know how big it is and whether my furniture will fit.
We booked marked a few websites that seemed to have a good variety of properties listed and over the next couple of weeks spent a considerable amount of time browsing the websites and every time we came across a property we liked the look of we would then google the town to see what we could find out about the various places. We also found ourselves looking into the towns in the northern part of the region of Almeria. There were a number of towns that we kept coming across and decided we needed to do more research into these.
One thing you have to get used to is that the quality of photos on Spanish properties is really poor compared to those used in this country when selling property and it did cross my mind there was a business opportunity for a photographer over there. Some rooms were so dark; it made me wonder what the seller was trying to hide. It became obvious very early on that bedrooms in Spain are just that; there is room for a bed – just! However, with most properties having an element of outside living, the rooms sizes were not as important as here (I’m starting to sound like an Estate Agent on here, although I cannot decide what the opposite to ‘deceptively spacious’ is! The other thing I couldn’t get used to is that there are no room sizes quoted as we do – everything is measured in square meters. Now, considering that I have no spacial awareness whatsoever, it was very difficulty for me to know how big a house with 95m2 of living space actually was. I need to stand inside a room to know how big it is and whether my furniture will fit.
We booked marked a few websites that seemed to have a good variety of properties listed and over the next couple of weeks spent a considerable amount of time browsing the websites and every time we came across a property we liked the look of we would then google the town to see what we could find out about the various places. We also found ourselves looking into the towns in the northern part of the region of Almeria. There were a number of towns that we kept coming across and decided we needed to do more research into these.
Sunday 11 November 2007
Research: Where do we start? On 't'internet of course!
These days everything you need to know about everything is on the internet, isn’t it? So, all we have to do is plug in the laptop, Google ‘moving to Spain’ and hey presto, we will have an idiots guide to help us on our way. Well, whilst that may seem an unrealistic expectation in reality it does give some good links to start browsing, such as properties for sale, ex-pats sites and sites giving advice on all aspects of relocating to Spain. Did this give us the guidance we were looking for? Not as such, but it did make us realise that there were a lot of questions we needed to answer about what we were looking for from our move to Spain so that we weren’t jumping from one idea to another and reaching a point where we were so confused we didn’t really know what we were trying to achieve.
So, our first task was to make a list of criteria our move to Spain needed to fulfil and here it is:
* Good golf (probably top of the list but not exactly a challenge in Spain)
* Warm dry weather (again, not too big a challenge for Spain)
* Somewhere typically Spanish (now this shouldn’t be too big a challenge)
* Within 30 minutes drive of the coast
Not exactly a massive list of requirements, so this should be relatively easy.
Narrowing down the area seemed a good place to start.
Monday 29 October 2007
To move or not to move........
There are times in anyones life when you want to run away and start again, but mostly it's a dream, or a way to get over a bad day. For me it all started with the realisation that increasing health problems meant I could no longer continue to work at the level I had for a number of years. I was finding winters difficult as my arthritis got worse and as a new but avid golfer, winters in England were a continual struggle against the cold, the rain and the mud.
After discussions with my husband about me finishing work and going into semi-retirement, we agreed it was the right thing for me and that I would finish at Christmas and get a part time job locally. Over a bottle of wine one weekend later with some good friends the discussion turned to why we would stay in this country if I was no longer in the job where I had been for over 20 years when somewhere warmer would be much more beneficial to my health and before long, we were discussing a move to Spain.
Initially I thought it was just one of those drunken discussions that friends have on a Saturday night, but in the cold light of day - it still seemed a good idea, and so the seed was sown and with a lot of discussion over the next few days we realised it made a lot of sense.
And so in February 2007 we started the next step - research!
After discussions with my husband about me finishing work and going into semi-retirement, we agreed it was the right thing for me and that I would finish at Christmas and get a part time job locally. Over a bottle of wine one weekend later with some good friends the discussion turned to why we would stay in this country if I was no longer in the job where I had been for over 20 years when somewhere warmer would be much more beneficial to my health and before long, we were discussing a move to Spain.
Initially I thought it was just one of those drunken discussions that friends have on a Saturday night, but in the cold light of day - it still seemed a good idea, and so the seed was sown and with a lot of discussion over the next few days we realised it made a lot of sense.
And so in February 2007 we started the next step - research!
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