Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Hi :D

Can anyone tell me where there is a hidden gem of a place in Spain, largely undiscovered by us Brits, that would be a great place to live?

Inland, coastal, up north, down south, village, or town it does not matter.

Cheers

Graham :beer:

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

If they told you it wouldn't be hidden any more :D

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Ha ha yes I suppose you might be right, nevertheless it would be nice to find a nice little paradise to wind down and get rid of all the stresses of UK living!

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

:p

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

but seriously..................almost anywhere half an hour or more inland, away from cities

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Well we are there already and we are not telling you! You will have to check our web site to find out!
Good luck.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

How stupid of me .... I typed Spain hidden gem into google and I found it for you :D Ironic really isn't it ........ finding Spains hidden gem on google ..... and theres loads of them :D (Most involve riding bikes)

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Thanks. Had a look at your website, it sounds lovely. We may be interested in a visit sometime soon

Regards

Graham

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Being serious for a moment Graham, we're 6 kms from the coast near Gandia. If we head inland though for maybe 15 kms we find fantastic countryside & lovely little villages, very quite, no brits. So within reason wherever you are if you are happy to travel a little way inland you will find your little bit of peace.
Thats why we settled on where we are .... its not quite so touristy, we're within easy reach of both Alicante & Valencia airport, yet we can be in beautiful vallies and mountains within 15 minutes.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Hi :)

Sounds lovely. As you may have gathered, we would prefer to be off the coast a bit, but not too far inland as I think that our income may not be sufficient and that we may need to find some part time work. We have thought about looking after about half a dozen villas/apartments etc for UK based owners. I know there lots of others doing it, but we only want to generate a top up income and not run a full time business.

We have considered buying an "end of village" property in the area you mention, but have been put off a bit by the land grab law and all the problems with urbanised and non urbanised land. Is this a big problem, or one that can be got around quite easily?

We are a bit out of touch with the Spanish situation as for the past two years we have been concentrating on getting into Canada (wife's first choice as her sister lives there)

Regards

Graham :)

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Hi Grey C & Steve,

If you follow the yellow dusters (stone road) you come to paradise. It's got everything, rolling river, tranquility, pool and stimulating hosts.

Regards, ;)

John.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I have found it, its in Manchester :D

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Well landgrabs still around although the EC have ruled it illegal. It didn't bother me so much because of where and what we bought, but I can appreciate the worry buying an old place in the middle of no where .... however I may be wrong but that effected coastal areas mainly didn't it, where all the building is rife.

I know where theres a finca for Sale near Sax, Alicante for 130 ish thousand euros with land .... one of the moderators on another forum .... let me know if you want the link.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Watch out over this, if you do that you will have to be fully registered as a business. There have been recent tales of someone having their house broken into while they were in the UK. The insurance company refused to pay out because the president of their urbanisation had a key and used to check the property every so often, He was the one who informed the police of the break in and told them he had keys. He is now facing prosecution for running and unregistered business, and they have had to replace all stolen items out of their own pocket. They are now having the property looked after by a registered property management company.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Thanks for that info, I must confess I hadn't thought about the insurance side of things. Maybe we would be better tightening our belts and not working at all, I think we can live with that! :D

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Countryboy has mentioned Sax to us before. The finca sounds what we might be looking for, but it may be gone by the time we are in a position to buy. We are still in the process of selling an apartment in Menorca and have not got our house on the market yet.

It would be nice to see the link though

Graham

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

You sell it well :)

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I'll pm it

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

My idea of a hidden gem is a place with loads of expats, going local wears very thin very quick if you don't speak the language and you don't fit in.

The ideal is to find locals that speak english then you don't have to worry about them moving back after 6 months when the thrill of going local wears off.

Having said that we're the ones moving away after making a lot of effort to find local (as vs expat) friends :D

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I think you have spent too much time in Frankfurt.....I was there once for 5 months and nearly lost my sanity!!!!!

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

We need a certain degree of stress to stay alive.....the only stress free existence is when you go to bed for that final very long and deep siesta in the sky. Trying to escape just doesn't work.. one merely exchanges one set of problems for another....it's the choice of what kind of problems one wishes to deal with that influences our lives and where we live.......I think......

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

What I can do without is commuting back and forth along the M56 everyday to sit in an office all day, when I can be doing something more positive with my life. Not everyone has the chance to move to another country to hopefully have a better lifestyle and if you are in a position to give it a go, I say try it. That is what we intend to do.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I gave up work in March, and I can't tell you how pleasant it is to get up in the morning and do what YOU want to do every day. And very shortly I'll be doing it in a much warmer place :)

T minus one month now!! :D

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I agree, In March, I got married, gave up work (at 46) and moved out to a beautiful home with swimming pool.

The best part of the day is getting up and sitting outside with a coffee ;)

Gadget :beer:

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I couldn't agree with you more !! I suppose I have a very flexible working life, unfortunatley the flexible earnings accompany it...my choice however so I am not complaining. My only worry would be that after six months of it I would be tearing my hair out in boredom....the novelty must wear off eventually.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Hear, hear.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

If you were retired at home in the UK, wouldn't it be the same? Most retirees find new hobbies and things to do to keep them from being bored and then often say "How did I find the time to go to work?" :)

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

You are quite right.....it is something I intend to explore over the next couple of years....I suppose living on the outskirts of London there are lots of ops, but it would be no worse than moving to a small town in Devon or Wales. At least in Chiclana one has Cadiz, Jerez and Seville all within a driving time of an hour or less. And I always forget that as one gets older one's urge to acquire demanding new interests is somewhat curbed.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

I too am sick of the commuting rat race (try 1.5 hours each way by public transport) and will be moving to Spain just as soon as I can sell my house in England - is proving difficult as it's been on the market for nearly 6 months now, the wait is killing me.

We bought 3 years ago in Spain and have been having the house restored gradually since then - nothing structural, just new kitchen and bathrooms, retiling patio and outside stairs, new utility area in patio, next job is to convert a former pigeon loft into a sitting room/occasional extra guest bedroom.

Where we bought might not be everyone's idea of a hidden gem, it's a big town which is capital of the Axarquia region of Malaga province in Andalucia, called Velez-Malaga. It's 5km inland from the coast, a 10 minute journey by car, the nearest resort is Torre del Mar with very few British tourists, mainly Spanish visitors many of whom have second homes there. I didn't want to be somewhere remote as I don't drive so want easy access to shops, activities etc without living in an expat community. My house is in the historic area of town inside the original city walls, no access by car at all. It's like stepping back in time, but with all the mod cons - apart from the fact that you have to carry your shopping uphill. The way I look at it is it will help to keep us fit and active in our old age! There is an excellent public transport system, including a new tram service just about to start operating between us and the coast, and half hourly bus service to Malaga until late at night, the big regional hospital just up the road, great range of shops, theatre with regular music and dance performances, good public sports and leisure facilities and private gyms. Having lived in a small Lancashire town for the past 25 years with zero leisure activities I don't want to be bored to death in my (early) retirement. There has been a lot of new building (mainly apartment blocks) on the edge of Velez but we can't see any of it from our roof terrace and it doesn't impinge on us at all. There are a number of British couples and families living there but it is still very much a working Spanish town and very few people in shops or restaurants speak English. Long may it remain so.


We don't plan to work when we get there but will use the proceeds from the sale of our English house plus an inheritance my partner received last year to live on until we receive our pensions (10 years in my case, 8 in my partner's). We will be time rich and cash poor instead of the other way round, but I don't think I will mind that.

Hope you find what you are looking for and can realise your dream.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Where you are going to live sounds very nice and Spanish. It sounds very similar to what we want to do, although we would prefer a house on the edge of a town with enough land for a pool and to lounge around and read and just generally chill out a bit

Good luck with your move

All the best

Graham & Pauline :)

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

[QUOTE=Gray C]Where you are going to live sounds very nice and Spanish. It sounds very similar to what we want to do, although we would prefer a house on the edge of a town with enough land for a pool and to lounge around and read and just generally chill out a bit

Good luck with your move

All the best

Graham & Pauline :)[/QUOT

my partner and I moved to Spain in Feb this year. It had taken us a year to find what we wanted.Our first priority was that we were within walking distance to a village, second we didnt want to do tooooooo much work to the property,well, maybe a bit.
We finaly found what we were looking for , it was a 2 bed villa in 2000 metres of land with a cassita on it in Barxeta, nr Xativa (small spanish house that we use for guests) we can walk into the lovely spanish village which is 10 mins away. we dont speak spanish but we have been taking lessons from a lovely english lady and in september we will join a school.
i have taken early retirement but my partner who is younger has no job, no worries because we have enough money to get by on.
we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves here and love it, my partner has enough to do round the house and garden to keep him occupied.
we have met some very nice english people here and we go out with them socialy and its great.
The spanish people all say hello or "ola" in the village when you pass and its such a nice atmosphere there.
we can get the train to valencia fm here which takes just 45 mins, a joy as train is airconditioned and plays some very low classical music, a joy.
we are 20 mins away fm tavernes which is a typical spanish beach, lovley.
anyway said enough,
If you can put yourself out to learn spanish and be friendly to locals you will get much pleasure fm this, anyway hope you sell you house and make it to spain. pat

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

[QUOTE=patsywhitehair]

oh, forgot to say..... prices are soooo much cheaper in the country side, if you need any advice then you are welcome to em me, dont know too much but I know that there are a lot of unscrupulous estate agents out there who take a big cut of house prices

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Nice to read all these positive posts....re-reading mine it comes over as extremely pessimistic which is certainly not what I intended ! I just feel that no matter where one goes or what one does there are good and bad points, and wondered about expecting too much from the change and then being disappointed?? It feels perfect and idyllic when I am over there and yes step out to my patio for breakfast having done some early morning gardening and had a dip in the pool. Does this pleasure sustain itself after one has been there for six months or a year??? Patsy surely there must be some downsides to livng out there or are you still in your honeymoon period?? I leave with a heavy heart each time, and feel unsettled for a while when I return in spite of leading a very nice life here in England.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

yep, there certainly are some downsides to living here...
toooo hot in august, air con on all time, car like an oven when you first get in, praying for some rain just to cool it down.
not being able to speak spanish yet, although am trying, honest.
would like some indian restaurants near us or even a decent chinese.
err cant really think of anything else cos....
we have english stations on tv, a telephone, pc with skype,so i can make cheap calls to friends in uk.
just acquired a puppy we found near the waste bin (oh heck , here we go)
just bought some land next door for £11000 and are having fun thinking what to do with it (good life comes to mind)
honest , although we have only been here for 6 months and have taken off our rose tinted glasses we really love it here, can see village fm window and its sooooo peaceful, mind you , i couldnt live too near a village because of the noise.
will let you all know in the next 6 months what its been like,take care all,pat

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

[QUOTE=patsywhitehair]Hi

Will PM you later. I am at work at the moment (meetings, meetings etc) but will find a bit of time to write later this morning.

Graham

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

It's very true that estate agents take a much bigger amount of the sale price in commission than we are used to in the UK. Some friends of mine bought a house near mine for cash, in the notary's office the money was handed over and the agent divided it up between herself and the vendor - would you believe a third of it went to the agent?

You will often see the same property advertised through different agents at different prices - due to the larger commissions charged by some. I know of several in the area I bought in that are for sale at 5,000E more with one agent than another. Apparently the practice is for the agent to ask the vendors how much they want for the house and then add on however much they think the market will stand - and they pocket the difference. That's also a reason why it is hard to negotiate a sale price lower than the asking price - the agent will say the owner is not prepared to drop the price when they probably haven't even asked the owner, they are just not prepared to accept less commission.

Having said that estate agents do more work for their money than UK ones do - they help with all kinds of after sales stuff like setting up standing orders for utility bills. But not enought to justify the huge commissions charged, IMHO!

As to the virtues of town v country living, depends what's most important to you as an individual. As people have said in another thread living in the country can still be very noisy, and in the area where my house is it is very quiet in the afternoons and during the night, less so when the children are playing in the street after getting home from school, people are going to work in the mornings, etc. But at least kids can play out in safety there, parents are scared to let them out of their sight in today's Britain. And it is just playing - we don't get any of the sort of anti social behaviour from teenage yobs that many areas in Britain are plagued by.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

This is one of the reasons we want to move. We do not feel safe where we live anymore. We want to move for our daughter's sake, as well as our own.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Certainly something we have noticed here, kids playing unsupervised in the streets, and running around the commercial centres at night making great friends with each other, and the language barrier doesn't seem to be there.

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

:eek:

We're moving in two weeks, I think we've been in Germany too long, I'm going local :beer: !!!!!!

First order of business is Spanish lessons, it is soooo frustrating when you can't speak the language, you dont' realize how much you miss the simple things in life, like ordering your morning coffee, asking what time it is, where such and such is so on and so forth.

One thing I won't miss is the lousey weather, cool and overcast. Madrid sunny and warm :)

Re: Tell me, the hidden gem is?
 

Apart from the summer months, I understood from what I've read that Madrid was quite a wet climate