Hi All

Me and my husband are moving to Zahara de los Atunes on the Costa de la luz in the next few weeks. We are buying a timber lodge at Atlantic Forest Park and need to buy furniture which will complement the lodge. So if anyone can help please let me know.
Also general info on the area for an expat would be appreciated, we visited for a couple of weeks but really dont know that much about the Costa de la Luz.

In exchange for that information I will be happy to tell anyone about Atlantic Parks and the great work they are doing.

Thanks
Shelia

Welcome to the site, Sheila. On here you do not have to exchange something to get the answers you want.

In Zahara you are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.By that I mean, do you go west to the stores around Cadiz City or East towards Gib and the Costa del Sol. Six of one,half a dozen of the other.

My advice would be, just go there and don't worry too much about the greatest furniture places. Get some cheap basics, and then as you get used to the area you can build on what you have.

Anyway - enjoy what is a lovely (albiet, for my liking, far too windy) area of southern Spain.

Hi Shelia and welcome to BE, I'm along the coast in Chiclana, I don't really know anything about Zahara, one of those places' we keep saying we are going to visit but never do we get as far a Vejer.

Not sure what you would be thinking of in the furniture line but there is a hand made rustico shop called El Mueble Rustico just off the main road in Conil. They have a new show room opening this month on Poligono La Zorrera, C/Canarias s.n, Conil de la Frontera, just of the N340 on the Conil road. They speak English, Spanish and German, we found them to be really friendly and so helpful. If you can locate a copy of the Baywatch Magazine or better still they are on line you will find the advert with the phone number for the company. Good luck:thumbup

http://baywatchspain.com/

Hello Shelia,
I dont know anything about Zahara but i just wanted to say Welcome.
good luck
marisol

Hi

You will find some ex-pats already there I think. I have British contacts there and they do not seem worried.

Davexf

Worried about what Dave

I camped on the beach for a week at the end of the eighties. Bliss. Zipped up the tent at night and showered in the camp site down the beach..they were full when we tried to get in there....then spent money in their wonderful restaurant. Had no money for rented cars, b&bs were too expensive. One of my best holidays ever. Only problem was shade in the middle of the day. The beach is pretty much the same now, but one wouldn't get away with a tent on the beach. Plenty of places with wooden furniture. I know a great warehouse in Chiclana with a varied selection and competitive prices.. let me know if you are interested.

Are they built for holidays ? Or as permanent residences ? What planning permits has the park got from the respected Junta de Andalucia. I don't know the area but recall that Zahara de los Atunes is situated on flat ground next to the sea and with an approach road over a sort of river or inlet. Behind the settlement are fields but I cannot recall seeing any woods !
If the Atlantic Parks is all above board then it sounds like an ideal place.
But being a cautious soul (normally) I would ask questions. Such as - what is the cost of services? and how will they be organised? am thinking of things like water, electricity and rubbish especially. what do the permits from the Junta say? do you buy the plot and the erection outright and can resell easily without any hassles? what is access to the site like and will roads get washed away when the tropical rain falls? if so who pays? etc etc
And are these homes being sold to all nationalities including Spanish or is it just the Brits?

Good points Nige. Good luck anyway. Beautiful part of Spain to live in if you have an independent income!

Agree with you there about the wind.Its next door to Tarifa ,windsurfers paradise and supposedly the windiest place in Europe.We stayed at Zahara
which is really nice as is surrounding area,but some days on the beach as fast as the tan was going on the wind was sandblasting it off.
No one bothers with getting a dishwasher just stick the pots and pans on the beach at night and next morning they will be clean if you can find them.

If it wasn't for the wind I think I would die from the heat, we have some mighty lavante and it can drive you mad, (I have become less tolerant of them the longer I have lived here) but on the whole the daily sea breeze is a god send.

As for being sand blasted, well, yes you can in a mtter of a few minutesgo from taking a stroll along the beach to fighting your way back to the car in a sand storm not funny at the time but when you look back at it then it can bring on a laugh

It is what really lets the area down for me - I can't STAND it!!!! It is funny that people there are so used to it, when I go down and say how bloody windy it is, they say that it isn't at all - even though the trees are bent over so far they're almost horizontal!!!!! One man's Levante is another man's hurricane!!!!!

Where I am is right on the other side of the Gulf of Cadiz and we don't get anywhere near as much wind. The area has its moments but really windy days like in Cadiz are rare here, and unheard of in Summer.

Wow, thanks all for the replies. I am so excited about the move and not at all worried about the wind.. The park in which we are moving to is not down by the beach but about 10 minutes outside the village of Zahara. It is a cork forest and seems quite sheltered from these hurricanes you are all talking about. As soon as we arrive I plan to go off shopping and starting exploring further a field.

I have also started a blog to record my experiences good and bad.

We are near Vejer. If you are travelling up towards Cadiz, then on that main road, just after the R hand turn to Medina Sidonia, there is a furniture shop there.

Polanco's in Chiclana is very good for cheap beds. Their light weight frames come in a number of widths, so you can bolt two together to make up anything to a super kingsize.

Good luck happy camper. I lived in that area for a few years and you really are going to a special place. I'd love to read your blog, can you share a link?