Thanks for the reply

Frankly although we do like Conil a lot it does strike us as being a tourist/beach town rather than the type of place that El Puerto is.

Prices along that coast and inland are higher than around Valencia, at least according to my research. If you do a search for a 3 bed 2 bath villa with pool for both provinces the difference is considerable. The last search I did came up with 2 properties in Cadiz province under 250,000 euro's and I think 47 in Valencia.

Whilst those figures are not entirely accurate I think they have some value and certainly my further research seems to show Xativa and Canals have a good number of what appear to be very attractive buys. Even if they are not as good as they look on a web-site I think they haveto belooked at.

I wish I had known what to look for if you want to avoid too many Brits - I will not look anywhere now if I see more than half adozen 2.5 sky dishes in a town

We have been through Medina Sidonia, thought it was a little too hilly. We really like El Puerto which for us apart from price of property has everything we want but we have to live within our means so....

Why is it you are so against your fellow countrymen/women being near you?

There are fellow brits up here where I live above Oliva but it doesn't impact that much on the environment?

By virtue of the fact you are moving here you will be adding to the Brit count, wherever you end up.

I can understand maybe avoiding the little Britain areas and heavily Britted urbanisations, but Brit doen't necessarily mean bad

As you do, I have choices I make, preferences I have. I have no argument with your choices!

Yes, I agree the position is that I do not want to live in a little Britain or heavily Britted urbanisation but that is really it. No Brits at all isn't my preference so do not run away with the idea it is. The line about 2.5 sky dishes for example was meant in jest. I could see in my mind's eye a cartoon of a whitewashed mountain village with nothing but 2.5 dishes visible above the roof tops and it amused me.(see Spain's comment about it being the Brit's who have those dishes)

I have lived abroad for 2 years in the past and prefer to live amongst the local non-Brit population, so what! I have no problem with your choice of location for you or anyone else's choice.

How about Rincon de la Victoria , on the coast just east of Malaga? Excellent communications, real Spanish atmosphere, excellent seafood, good private health clinic, all the facilities of Malaga just 20 minutes away!

It does`nt have to be all or nothing. We fell lucky and bought into a small new development within the urbanization of a village. It transpired that the rest of the properties were also bought by British, but we have Spanish living alongside and around. It is interesting to gauge wether the Spanish are learning English quicker than the English are learning Spanish. It looks a runaway victory for the Spanish. But either way it is proving a pleasurable experience. Incidentally the developer installed one 2.5 m dish in an inconspicuous position and cabled it around.
Do not be too much guided by historic property prices in areas. Find the area and property you like and haggle the price down , in the current situation the ace card is in your hand.

Chill I was genuinely asking about why you were making that particular choice ... thats what we do on here ... we share opinions and information
I wont bother asking in future if you are so touchy about it

I wouldn´t say that Chiclana has a large portion of Brits. More than it used to have yes but in comparison to other areas, no. Most Brits live in the campo and are surrounded by Spanish, certainly not in any type of urbanisations.

I didn't take offence at all. I was just answering your question.

Feel free to comment (as I'm sure you will). After all the more input the better and the different views expressed by all hopefully give folk like me (on the outside looking in) some idea of what is involved in what is a major step particularly if you are older rather than in your 30's or even early 50's.

This is a valuable resource, do not think I do not appreciate it please.

I have to admit I'm not a great nationalist and that colours my choices. Then again we all have our likes (Ray Davies, Morrison's ring donuts) and dislikes (British soaps (no any soaps,), tea. There I've just given the game away why I won't need a 2.5 metre dish.

Perhaps,but I have read about problems with illegal builds more. I also get the freebie Tucasa.Com mag when in El Puerto and just have not been impressed. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it is still an area with more than the average number of Brits, wherever they live in Chiclana.

Thanks for the input

Now this is an area I have been put off by what I have read. I will now look it up. As it is so close to Malaga aren't property prices fairly high tho?

OK as you say you have given the game away about why you do not need a 2.5 meter dish. Have you thought that you are not the only brit who is not interested in TV. So purely looking at the dish situation may not guide you regarding the number of brits living in an area.

Rosemary

I accept what you say. Is the language thing partly because we Brits are older when we start to try to learn the language but also simply related to the fact that we Brits do to a certain extent expect everyone to understand us. On looking at other sites besides this one I have noted a good number of Brits in Spain who simply have given up on learning Spanish but I do detect a relationship with age.

Yes I am well aware of the purchasers position now but as an initial indicator if the original asking price is high the eventual price is still fairly high. In my job I do a lot of negotiating and my experience is that what I have said is true. There are always exceptions where the price drop is tremendous but usually if everyone's price is high don't expect too much of a reduction. The difference between Cadiz province and Valencia is on the face of it from say 200,000 to 400,000 for the same type of property (see Kyero.Com)

The dish thing is only a joke (with acknowledgement to Spain). Mind you if I did see too many!!!!!

Yes, definitely a problem with illegal builds but I do believe you are wrong about more than the average number of Brits. I recently visited Estopona shopping centre and there must have been 90% English there. The relief when I got back on to the A381 back over the hills to Costa de la Luz was immense.

Chiclana is a lovely place to live actually full of Spanish and not English. Thankfully I live in the campo with the Spanish in an illegal house so no need to worry about you moving in next to me.