The concept, yes.... putting it into practice in an old stone built place where you don't want to ruin the appearance of the windows nor rip humungous rocks out of the walls just to lay micropiping, well another story

Agree, once one starts, they all join in! We stay regularly in a rural hotel near Ronda, and at nights the sound of the nightingales is incredible, it's beautiful, but even that can wear a bit thin after several hours! We used to hear them near Alora, and we were convinced the guy had a recording which he switched on every night at midnight! Better than campo dogs though, that's for sure.

In that case a bit of lateral thinking is required.

Most people including myself have found ways to bring modern comforts to stone built properties without detracting from their character. It aint rocket science

Ok thanks...the idea is to try an rent for the first 6 months or so anyway to get a feel for the place and still have our place here on the coast

i live about 40 min away from orgiva on nr coast, i do enjoy living in this area as you got the best of both the mounians and the beach, it is cheap to live in the area and it does get cold here in the winter and its hot in the summer.but as i live nr the beach its gets very busy with spainish holiday makers from madrid and granada.
i

You can live 10 or 15 minutes from great beaches and not a tourist around - on the northern coast. Loads of mountains nearby too. Don't worry - it doesn;t rain every day (it only seems like it) !!!

We tried living inland, well away from the coast, the only foreigners in a small Spanish town. It wasn’t for us and we wondered why, until it became blindingly obvious.

We’re both Londoners, used to a city’s convenience and if we had tried living in rural Britain, we would have come unstuck too.

Before writing the above I was itching to record all the things we found wrong with inland life, starting off with the corrupt mayor, but what would be the point? Horses for courses sums it up best.

I can’t resist this silly tale, though. We lived in a small street of eight houses who all had rear access to garages or courtyards. One day we found that a yellow line had been painted at the rear entrance to our garage. The mayor told us that it would stop people parking there, continuously coughing into his hand as he spoke.

You couldn’t park in that rear street anyway, there wasn’t room. We paid up, as usual. The yellow line wasn’t even straight!

[QUOTE=agoreira;7913327]
well the monastery would be great for me as i like the quietness of them and often went to one locally to meditate when i lived in Guildford................wonder if theres one nr pego?

[QUOTE=Jaques2go;7913309]
A lot of work / soap shy scrounging hippy types from what Iv`e seen.

If you want rural peace ,free from tourist invaisions have a look at Martos and Jaen.

Rgds

Rotor

I sort of agree. Seems a lot of Brits around Martos though? All the rest of the pueblos are like Torre sin mar

I was just wondering, for those of you who have lived in the area, we are moving to Arroyo de la Miel soon from Barcelona. I am British and my husband is Colombian, we have a young son and speak Spanish together but I like to have some English contact too (the better class of Brit, obviously!). Is it possible to have the best of both worlds do you think? Or may I feel totally overwhelmed with Brits? We have a Spanish friend who lives in Torremolinos and she doesn't even seem to notice the presence of tourists! Is that possible?! We like it busy and a little chaotic, especially my husband, and are still not ready for the casa in the campo! We like the idea of the beach, sports activities, swimming pools, etc, at this stage in our life, and hope this will be the right decision. We have got the impression that people integrate pretty well in Arroyo, and that the locals are friendly (especially if you speak the language and are just normal).

You will have to tell me where they are, Fiona, I promise not to tell anyone else!!

Funnily enough, I actually quite like Torremolinos; I suppose the difference may be that I see 'tourists' as meaning 'foreign tourists' whereas the truth is it's probably teeming just as much with Spaniards through the season as with other nationalities. Yesterday dd & I chose Torremolinos for a pre-airport coffee, and the cafe seemed 'naturally' segregated - tourists (now mostly foreign!) outside, Spaniards (& us) inside in the aircon!!!

.... & I could tell you but I'd have to kill you

Torremolinos now has much less Brits than before (they have all moved Inland) Walk down the paseo weekends and evenings and there are 80% spanish.

Agree I like the paseo along the coast at Torremolinos too. I was expecting it to be tacky and full of foreign tourists, but it wasnt at all. My favourite beach in the area is the one at El Palo (East Malaga). Mainly locals from Malaga city go there and the fish restaurants are incredible!

Marbella is also nice and "feels Spanish" if you stay away from Puerto Banus. Fuengirola and Benalmadena Costa feel more like a tourist resort, although the odd part of Fuengirola is OK (the plaza and some of the side streets)