Rosemary

This post from another thread made me wonder how members went about deciding on the area that they now live in. I does not matter whether this is part time of full time because the process is the same.

Personally I had an extensive check list with so much on it that I did not think that it would be possible to find anything to suit so I was amazed when we managed it and still love our choice. No rose tinted glasses on my part because I was quite negative about moving here so in fact was not that interested in finding somewhere hence the long list of wishes.

Rosemary

missile

We stumbled into our choice via an invitation to attend a presentation and a "free" inspection trip.

We had only a basic plan:

• Must be near Alicante airport
• Must have a pool
• Must be detached
• Three bedrooms
• On suite and family bathrooms
• Must have good amenities
• Not near to rental hot spots
• Avoid lager lout locations
• Not in a tourist hot spot
• Most importantly, we were only going to look definitely not to buy!

Achieved all but the last item on the list :-(

Loafing Along

We spent six years visting the Mediterranean coast from our base in Navarra, could not envisage retirement there as climate not that hospitable.
Similar specification to Missile:

• Near a good airport
• Good amentities
• Good local health service
• Sun and mild climate
• Reasonable property prices and good selection

Opted for ashort drive into Marbella. Ticked all the boxes with Malaga airport, wide range of amenities, excellent hospital etc etc. Got bored with it after three years and moved on...

Boseley

I arrived from the West Indies in 1962, having travelled widely, the Canary Islands was one of the better places I visited, so when thinking of retirement it was a Natural choice, my father lived in the Iberian part of Spain, and having experience of that area, it was a clear, no, not here.

Where I live now on the Meridian Isle, seemed then and still is a natural choice, low cost of living, friendly polite people, the young still respect their elders, a wonderful climate. Crime is almost unknown, some people don't lock their doors, and having many years experience in crime investigation, this was important.

Having been here many years, I cannot see me re-locating, nice bungalow in a nice climate, where we have made many friends, cheap travel to other Islands, no, quite content, here is home.

Retired in Euskadi

I guess my decision to "retire" to the Basque country was made for me; my wife is Basque! So we live in her village, in fact in the house where she was born, renovated.
But it's not all bad:

• weather is milder than UK with a good mix of rain and sun, sometimes at the right time!
• not on the mass tourist itinerary but only 40km to Bilbao airport
• close to France for a change of cultures, and to buy things like rapeseed oil, Seville oranges in January, to make marmalade and Bordeaux/Burgundy wine for a change
• has lots of mountains with good walks and local groups to join
• lots going on, but in the nicest sense almost no "Brits" so no expat community with its pros and cons
• a different culture yet part of Spain (still!)
• excellent health service and free (I was airlifted by helicopter 2 years ago with a heart "problem" that seems to have been sorted
• lots of small flocks of sheep to shear in the season
  But the downsides:
• cannot buy certain things such as Branston Pickle, British sausages like you can down south
• making the effort to learn Basque does my head in (though you can get by without it)
• can't succeed in growing garlic in the allotment, probably due to the damper climate (average annual rainfall 1200mm/litres)
• can't grow Bougainvillea at home, although nearer the coast it seems to thrive
  
  So, all in all, a happy bunny, with no regrets. Well, could do with more book shelf space, but the house has very little extra room.

Moses2013

Well in Ireland they grow too. It's not that difficult, even in a wetter climate. As he says in video, most people plant them too late and better when it's still a bit colder. You just need to keep them dry when they come out.
https://giy.ie/get-growing/video-tutorials/garlic.html
Worst case a polycarbonate greenhouse is a great investment and not too expensive.
Even Bougainvillea grows here, so I can't imagine why you can't grow unless you get frost, so you just really need a frost-free area?

Retired in Euskadi

I'm resigned to not growing garlic; many of the allotment neighbours say the same. In England I could grow it easily, planting it in October & not according to the moon as people do here. I even bought some cloves from the garlic farm in the Isle of Wight that specialise in garlic varieties, but the heads remained stubbornly small even so.
We get slight frosts, maybe down to -1C at times, but even Bougainvillea can survive that. In Andalucia it can go down to -1C such as Cordoba etc. Maybe it's simply the winter rainfall.
Thanks for the website link.

Leper

I'm glad my post was used here for discussion. This thread shows that people buy in Spain for different reasons. Our apartment in Mojacar Playa is our 3rd property in Spain. We sold the other two. We made two bad mistakes before finally settling in Mojacar Playa. I should point out that our three properties were in holiday resorts. Our first purchase was "grab value" - price was right, prospects of rentals were goo - we would make a few bob into the bargain and we had a base for nearly incessant sunshine.

Our 2nd choice was a little further south. Again ours was based on investment - better location - more rentals.

Our 3rd choice was Mojacar Playa - fewer rentals though - more sunshine - quieter resort - good local transport - access to Almeria, Alicante, Murcia airports and even Málaga airport if we needed. Is our 3rd choice the last one? Yes. Is it our best choice? Yes