I've never seen someone on a donkey in Spain. Cleethorpes beach in the UK, yes.
Having said that I've seen plenty of villages in Spain where Storks nest in the church towers, the local older women dress in black, and little vans trundle around in the morning with bread or other groceries. So plenty of the old ways still exist, I think. Even in Madrid - once a year there's a sheep convoy passes through the city.

Mitzboy No we do not know what Torrevieja or any other places, other than what we have read on line or what is posted. We understand that Torrevieja, could have more expats.

We have looked on line, read these threads and quite fancied the Alhaurin el Grande area, we have yet to make a final decision, however, we have been looking at rentals in this area and are likely to try it early next year?

We are open to all information including negative, we do realise its only us who can make the final decision

Richard and Jackie

Well Torrevieja IS expat land. I was just suprised you chose there and Tarrogona, them both being a little different and quite far apart

Hi Rich66,

It looks like you have made a couple of decisions on the areas you want to visit from the web & forum.
Before you go, may I suggest you take a look at Jerez de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera in Cadiz province or some of the many costal towns along the Costa de la Luz. Such as, Conil, Sanlúcar de Barrameda or El Puerto de Santa Maria!
You may be presently surprised. If you need to know anymore on these areas, just drop me a line.
I hope it all works out well for you where ever you lay your hat.

pablosho

Thanks for that we will certainly look, like its been posted its a huge area to cover and we have only as yet looked on line we are in no real hurry, so we will take our time. We will look at the areas you have posted and will contact you should we need advice or more information on the areas in your post

Once again many thanks

Richard and Jackie

just like to point out that aeg is,or was full of the ex-pat scumbags you may not want to meet as it was allways cheaper to rent there than the coast,if you go there just pop in a few of the brit bars on a sunday,you will see what i mean
you are from sw england,trust me thats a much nicer place than spain,except for the weather
not cheap here now but gl with your dream,see you in ilfracombe or wherever in a couple of years with your tail between your legs

My village is a small farming village with about 200 houses about an hour inland from Malaga. There are several expat families living here and many more in the surrounding villages. The Spanish are very warm and friendly and often turn up at your door with a plate of cakes or other strange things. In fact yesterday after an afternoon in Alhaurin el Grande (which is a nice place, but too ex-pat for me) we returned to find 3 melons on the doorstep! We have a doctors, shop that sells everything including fresh meat and veg, primary school, tennis courts, football pitch, large community swimming pool, free gym and a street gym, bank With english speaking staff, 4 bars which sell food. It has a very active womens association which the ex-pats are encouraged to join (they organize day trips, meals out etc), we also have many free courses organised by the town hall (ceramics, needlework, dancing). We have a feria once a year with lots of entertainment and there is always free beer and soft drinks on the first night. Also many other fiesta days with free food and beer. You get a real mix of ex-pat and spanish. As for men on donkeys, occasionally you will see one, you do get mummy and her piglets walking down the street and an odd goat or 2. You can hear a pin drop during siesta. Its an idilic place to be!!!

Cazzy

Hi, all

Many thanks for your posts. I have had a number of private replies which the pop up on my computer is blocking, I belive I can now solve that problem. To all of you who have sent me a private message, many thanks. Having not been able to see them, I do apologies for no response.

Again many thanks for your posts all are welcome, even the negative ones are helping.

Richard and Jackie

I certainly take exception to being called a scumbag, my partner and I are from St Albans and are perfectly happy in Alhaurin el Grande as for the visiting the Brit bars on a Sunday what the complete 2 of them, lol.

Any town is what you make it, you can be from Mayfair and be a scumbag by my standards or be from the depths of inner Birmingham and be very well spoken, please do not generalise to such an extent that it becomes offensive.

You may well have had a bad experience while living where you lived but that is more to do with the style of people YOU chose to associate with or think your better than.

If a person looks with an open mind but looks for what they want out of somewhere they will find the right place for them, as for it being cheaper than the coast I often think it has little to do with why a person lives inland. I personally did not want to live on the coast in a very British community with hoards of holiday makers trying to obtain that tan in 2 weeks so walking around half naked at every opportunity I find it is ok for a couple of hours but I am still very happy to leave and go back over the mountain to home.

I personally think that those Brits I have met that live in and around Alhaurin both long term and newbies like ourselves have been very nice and from all backgrounds and they like me would not be to happy at being called a scumbag. As a matter of course we had a meet 3 weeks ago where 4 familes meet up and yesterday there were at least 7 different families that got together and passed 3 very pleasant hours.

Jay01 & Cazzy 01

Many thanks for your posts. We found the email could well have offended a lot of people. It’s our choice and with the help of your posts and the negative ones we will make our choice, we are the only ones who can make that choice. I found the bit at the end hilarious, no disrespect to the good people of Illfracombe, it’s not where we intend to settle down and we certainly will not be going anywhere with our tails between our legs. The posts are helping.
Many thanks

Richard and Jackie

You have the wrong perception here too.

I met a Spanish 20-something in Madrid who had holidayed every year in Los Boliches for the past 15 years with his family since he was a small child. I asked if he was fed up with all the English people there. He replied, what English people? He never noticed them.

All along the Costa del sol there are still loads more Spanish people than English people and more Spanish holidaymakers than British ones.

We went as well, and we are not from Alhaurin. We wouldn't want to live there, but we don't dislike it. In fack it made a change to have a "British Sandwich" We wouldn't like to live in close proximity to as many Brits, but each to his own. You have to live where you will be happy, and make your own opinions!!

Caz

El Grande does have more than its fair share of Brits and it sadly does have a bit of a history of disharmony between the spanish and the Brits, altho on a day to day level its not noticable anymore. I personally prefer Alhaurin de la Torre as it has less British and is more cosmopolitan and modern. Its known locally to be the commuter town for the executives of Málaga and is quite wealthy, yet its still a small town and is close to the countryside, the airport and the costas! So it suits us!

Altho the idea of a small spanish village appealed to me, I simply didnt find one when we were looking to move here that also had the amenities we needed!

Jo xxx

I have some very good friends in AG and have met other Brits from there who are nice. Whilst I admit the place has had more than it's fair share of scumbags, I think many have now left. I agree that Alhaurin de la Torre is more upmarket.

Yep nearly all Spanish on the beaches here, you can tell by the gazeebos and BBQ`s