Hi all,

My wife (sue) and I have sold our horse and llama breeding farm in France because of a serious and long term injury which prevented us from continuing farming here. After doing a lot of research we have decided to move to Galicia (Lugo area) in Northern Spain In April 2008. We currently plan to run a very small B&B and will eventually bring over a herd of 8 – 10 llamas to do llama trekking in the region and possibly continue breeding llamas again at a later stage.

We are fortunate in that we have a 32’ American Motor-home which we can use as a base whilst we search for the right property and land for us, so at least we will have most of the home comforts.

The site has been very useful and informative for us thus far and I am sure that we will be pestering everyone and asking loads of questions as we start to finalise things here and make our final plans for the move over.

Rgds, Mike L

Welcome to BE Mike, and let us know how your move goes

Hi and welcome.
You are not the only ones wanting to open a B&B..
Here is an open question posted about starting a B&B here in Galicia. Here is our answer. You should note that the supervision of all holiday accommodation is strictly controlled by the Xunta. However we of some up and running B&Bs that are up for sale. Maybe this is a way forward (easier route than renovating a property)for you?
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=508762
We know nothing about Llamas other than they look very cute.
Importing a huge vehicle like an American camper may cause you problems either with the narrow back roads and later with matriculation.
Let us know if you need any further help.

Hi,

The B&B is still really only an idea at the moment. We read through the previous post and were going to contact you (Ian & Irene) directly and see if you had any information or advice you could give regarding the rules and regulations for running a B&B in Galicia. It sounds like it may be as tightly regulated as France where you even need a special license to serve your paying guests coffee in the morning and legally you must sit at the table with your paying guests whilst they are eating!!!

The main thing for us will be the llama trekking and possibly breeding, which has been a huge financial success for us over here in France. The reason we have to stop farming here is that we can no longer breed the Clydesdales as with my wife’s injury they are to physically demanding for just one person to cope with and therefore we did not need a 50 Acre farm anymore. Keeping llamas is very easy and requires very little work in comparison to the horses. We are in contact with people who have Alpacas (the smaller camalids) in Spain and they are providing some very useful advice on the rules and regulations over there.

We have managed to find a couple of camping sites near Santiago where we can park and hook up the American Motor home and we will hire a car to do our searching. Do not fancy trying to navigate it round country roads….:curse. Once we have found the right place for us then the motor home will be returned to the UK or France and sold or exchanged for smaller French model, so we will not have to face the problems of matriculation.

Any advice and guidance anyone can provide is gracefully accepted.

Kind Regards,

Mike & Sue

Blimey fancy being obliged to sit with your guests. We could never do that when we are full.
To PM us you have to write a few more times, about 5 we think. If you cannot wait for that contact us via our website. Make the title of the mail very distinct as we get a fair bit of spam on there.
We should clarify what we said about the roads. The connecting roads are quite wide, enough for coaches etc. Just that a day going around this bend and then that bend can be tiring. The roads to the villages, where the houses are will be impossible for the ‘home. Your idea of parking it somewhere is much better.
We also have a list of inmobiliaria’s some good and some bad. What we have heard is only second-hand and does not come with our personal knowledge. So we do not post anything on the web about levels of service etc.
Once you have purchased a property maybe you should rent a small flat/house for a while rather live in a motor home. It does get cold at times during the night here. In a small town you will never be far away from your animals.
When are you thinking of visiting?

BTW there is Asturias too. Just as Beautiful, but housing is more expensive.

If you look at Turgalicia's website? You can find all the camping sites you need there.

Thanks again for the info, will send you an e-mail.

France is famous for being the most bureaucratic country in the EU and it is not until people actually move over here and try to start a business that this all comes to light. There are so many people here that try to start up a business and after about 2 years of being given the run around, simply give up and go back to the UK very frustrated and broke. The French have no comprehension of things such as part time work and the employment laws are extremely rigid and archaic, once you employ someone you simply cannot sack them regardless of how bad they prove to be. The new President is trying to change they way things are run and cut down of bureaucracy, but at the moment he is loosing the battle due to the phenomenal power of the trade unions here.

As an aside and just as an example of life in France, there is a village here where the graveyard became full and so the Marie passed a law banning anyone living in the commune from dying and just to add insult to injury, he imposed a €30,000 fine on any family in which someone had the audacity to contravene his laws and die. Totally true, perfectly legal and typically French.

As for the motor home, it is designed for living in full time and has a 35000 btu central heating system and 2 x air con units fitted which run off an internal 80ltr LPG tank which should get us through any cold and hot weather (it a typical American job with everything fitted as standard).
We are coming over on 1st May which is the day after we complete on the sale of the farm. Unfortunately we cannot come over any sooner as we still have to run the farm and look after all the animals until the new owners take over.

Kind Regards,

Mike & Sue

1st May is actually a public holiday here in Spain. Maybe you will find that some campsites are also not opened yet. Anything along the Camino will be though.
We have heard about the luxury of these motor homes. You could be warmer than us in the house, but not cooler. These old houses are a very nice haven from the heat of summer.
How do you normally fill the LPG tank? The reason we ask is the fuel is difficult or impossible to encounter at filling stations. We read once that LPG is only permitted to be used in Taxis. We only have seen LPG run taxis in Barcelona and Madrid. Hopefully someone else on this forum can help with this subject.
Some things in France sound the same as here in Spain.
Forgot to posts this with our last response, hope you like it.
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama

Sorry, I should have added that 1st May is the day we set off from here (allier, France) and we plan to take about 3 days to get to Santiago (not Santander as stated…oppps) where the base camp site is. The sites we have checked on are open from 1st April and they can take the size of vehicle we have which was good news.

With regards to the sale of LPG (GPL) in Spain, apparently the law changed in 2004 and it is now legal for garages to sell LPG to private individuals.

In case anyone is interested the following is a short list of LPG available sites in the north of Spain which have been used to refill LPG tanks fitted to american motor homes (obtained from a UK based American Motor home owners forum):

Estacion de Servicio Gasauto (RB Sortidor S.A.)
Lugar de Mesoiro 8-10
E-15190 La Coruna-Feans
Phone : 00 34 (0)981 292632

Estacion Servicio Gasauto (REPSOL)
Barrio Cueto 5
E-39012 Santander
Tel: 00 34 (0)942-390000

GASAUTO HERNANI
Mutauto. Carretera Hernani-San Sebastián, km 8. Hernani (GUIPÚZCOA)
Tel: 00 34 (0)943 331 131

E.S. DIEGO Y CIPRIÁN, C.B.
Carretera N-634, km 196. Hoznayo (CANTABRIA)
Tel: 00 34 (0)942 524 212

Kind Regards,

Mike L

Mike
Good news about the LPG. The phone numbers are not quite correct.
There is no ‘0’ in front of the numbers.
To give you some idea of how narrow country roads are usually we have attached a photo.

I think I am in love with the area already.

This is a photo of a freind and I trek training llamas by taking them out for a walk down the main road which runs past our farm (typical of the country roads in this region).

The real fun normaly starts when I come across a large tractor with a trailer and I am in our 4x4 with the horse trailer. I have become quite expert at reversing for 1/4 mile back to a juntion so I can clear the road. (The rule is smallest vehicle reverses). Luckily the RV has a reversing camera.

Rgds, Mike L