Re: Moving to Spain
 

The weather would probably be my biggest negative about living in spain, the extremes are draining. When its really hot you are a prisoner of your house and like Pocaloca a few weeks ago my vegetable patch was under 2 foot of water and I was wading around the campo rescuing chickens from trees and floating debris, I lost 4! The vegetables have slowly comeback to life. Tonight I am thinking about lighting the fire and soon there will be the daily chore of bringing wood round, cleaning the chimenea etc. But we did our homework and knew it was like this.

Re: Moving to Spain
 

:eek::eek::eek::eek:GOOD GOD!!!!!!!!!

Yep i can understand this.....but as you say [QUOTEBut we did our homework and knew it was like this.][/QUOTE]
This what I do not understand, how can you move in the UK let alone to another country and not have at least an idea of the weather etc.
I am stunned .......Talking of chooks mine are in a mud bath at the moment

Re: Moving to Spain
 

I often have friends who want to come over in the winter to "get some good weather". They look at the weather charts online and see daytime temperatures of 18 or 20 degrees here, when it's around zero in GB. They don't realise that this is just for 2 hours in the afternoon and there's no central heating indoors!

Re: Moving to Spain
 

To be honest i am amazed..still takes all sorts bet I have some odd ideas as well about places LOL:thumbsup:

Re: Moving to Spain
 

We've had relatives come over in January or February "because the flights are really cheap" and then they sit about looking put out if the weather's wet, cold or both - in spite of us warning them that at that time of year the weather's just as likely to be bad as good!:frown:

I'd had enough winter holidays in Spain to know full well that it rains (a lot) sometimes, and doesn't feel warm before the sun is properly up or after it goes down, before we decided to move here. I must admit I wouldn't have chosen one of the areas where it really does get unbearably hot (over 40C) for much of the summer, nor a mountain area where it gets very cold in winter. I'd had enough of snow and ice living in a moorland area of the North of England and I am very happy to come no closer to it now than looking at snow capped mountains in the distance from my roof terrace!

I am one of the people who prefers to live in a town with all the amenities within walking distance, I am no gardener and my patio and large roof terrace are quite enough outside space for me! It is sometimes possible to find town properties with a surprising amount of outside space, a friend of ours bought one nearby which is set at the end of a small, gated cul de sac shared with one other house. His house is set behind a high wall, has a huge patio area at ground floor level, a raised terrace of 12m x 7m where you could put a pool, another terrace and a 50sqm roof terrace as well. Sadly he died before he could put his plans to develop it into action, but with not too much spent on it it could become really nice.

Re: Moving to Spain
 

If its too cold for you ..Move to the Canary Isles..mostly 20* to 25*in winter..

Re: Moving to Spain
 

Well I thought I knew about spanish weather...spent a year at Sevilla Uni. Grandfather had a house in Spain, so did my parents. We must have been lucky with the weather or I was suffering from selective memory:lol: We were a bit stunned when we lived in Spain year round. Ok. it's not as cold as the UK and we have spent some lovely days in chiringuitos at lunchtimes but it's the houses. When the sun goes down it can be very cold. Our CH cost a fortune to run but never felt adequate (was an old system). As soon as it goes off the house seemed to get cold within a half hour whereas here in the UK it seems to keep warm for hours.

Re: Moving to Spain
 

Maybe in the South it does! The last year I spent in the UK we had to have our central heating on in August, which is ridiculous. In the winter, as soon as it went off the house went cold pretty darn quickly. We once went on a long haul winter holiday and made the mistake of not leaving the heating on for a few hours a day whilst we were away. Luckily the pipes didn't freeze but the house was like an ice box and took about 2 weeks to warm up again.

Re: Moving to Spain
 

would you really want this load of moaning minnies ? ?
:rofl:

Re: Moving to Spain
 

yeah! my sister told me she would be making the matriarchal single visit to see her older brother ensconsed in Spain in March.
when I said it would be inordinately cold, us being at like 800m asl she said, no my husband has said that is the best time.

so I am ensuring the spare 14tog duvet is aired ready

she only ever visits the once, even when driving by she wouldnt drop in, its only a few minutes before we can get home and have a cup of tea !!
:rofl:

Re: Moving to Spain
 

Just looking at the UK weather charts.

Down to minus 5 in N.Scotland tonight and little better elsewhere with snow showers and a Northerly wind blowing down of the North Sea..... Brrrrrrrr.

Had snow in Oct, 2 yrs out of the last 3 back home in the N.E. and much the same as late as June, so at least those of us close to the Costas are a bit better off than that, despite the poorly insulated houses.

The Canaries are definitely the place to be for decent Winter weather and certainly a big contrast to the Peninsula.

The first few yrs I spent back on the mainland, I often rented an apartment in Benidorm for a while in mid winter taking with me a couple of extra heating appliances, as the electric was covered in the rent, so it was never a problem keeping warm.

Also most of the apt terraces are South facng and quite sheltered, as is much of the town itself, so its a useful bolthole for those wishing to avoid the worst of the Spanish Winter for the odd month or maybe two.

Re: Moving to Spain
 

yep this year we had the log burner still on in july.......and the past few years i have never seen so much fliiping rain

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

Re: Moving to Spain
 

Strange how we all have differing experiences, I can't remember having heating on in the summer in UK, much less in August. Our modest house has cavity wall insulation, double glazing, max thickness of loft insulation, we have the top rating, and normally our CH goes off beginning May and stays off until recently and then only at night. It's been on for an hour tonight, it's off now but I still only have a shirt on, it's not cold. We use the same tog rated duvet throughout the year and I've never bothered with wearing anything in bed. The last time I wore anything in bed was in a house in Montefrio (yes, I know the meaning) in May! the coldest house I have ever stayed in.
2 weeks to warm up? :confused: that's sounds like an extremely cold house or a very inefficient heating system.

Re: Moving to Spain
 

I bought flanalette PJ's in Spain from Dunnes stores:lol: Still wear PJ's but am into silk now:thumbup:

Re: Moving to Spain
 

No, just a different climate (and probably the fact that we experienced a 35 degree drop in temperature within 24 hours from being in the Far East to coming back to northern England didn't help!). You are always telling us what a wonderful area you live in, after all, you never get snow, heavy rain or whatever else is affecting the rest of the country, do you?

We had a brand new boiler, double glazing, loft insulation et al.

I don't have an electric blanket here in Spain (I do put a hot water bottle in the bed in the coldest months) and I never wear anything to sleep in (nor did I in the UK). I've seen people mention on here that they watch TV wrapped up in blankets, wear gloves indoors and all sorts of other things, but never have I felt the need to do that. I've not used any heating in this house since March, the gas heater may need to go on for an hour or so last thing at night soon, though.