you will see

It can`t possibly get cold and damp in Spain !
Or can it, lol
I have certainly changed my mind after a few years. ;-)

mmm me too

and when people ask "does it rain in Spain ?" --- not too often but when it does, boy you will know it - thats when you find out your roof leaks

Without getting too technical, another factor to take into account when comparing weather is the differences between daily maximums and minimums in both Spain and the UK.

Here are the 'official' forecasts for Valencia and London for the last four mondays

05/3 Valencia 19 max 12 min London 11 max 6 min

26/2 " " 21 max 7 min " " 10 max 4 min

19/2 " " 17 max 4 min " " 11 max 7 min

12/2 " " 22 max 13 min " " 10 max 7 min


What stands out, is in London on those four days added together the biggest gap between max and min is only 7 degrees. Whereas in Valencia a difference of 18 degrees.

So when you've had a warm day, which most are here, you notice how nippy it is in the evenings.

Yea that makes sense, woops you forgot to add your average bills on the end

Yes it does get cold in spain and we do need tumble dryers when it is raining for 5 days solid and the air is damper than the clothes you are drying! Houses are not constructed in the same way, they are designed to be cool in summer, not warm in winter and many are damp in the winter. If you live in the campo it can be worse. We have found it very different living in a house in the campo to living in an apartment in an urbanisation. Dont be under any illusions about it being warm in spain all year round, in some places they have snow and ice, and this occurred 30km from the coast last year.
Its still better than the uk though.

Also where you are moving to is inland. The local forecast for Hondón de las Nieves shows predicted lows for the next week of 4, 6, 6, 7, 6, 6, & 5. Not dissimilar to Liverpool. The cold months are January and February.

Bit of a clue in the town name.

The highs are good though!! 18, 19, 19, 19, 20, 19, & 18.

Oddly enough I struggled to get sheets dry last summer in August when the temperatures were in the mid 30s. I would have expected them to dry in half an hour but the high humidity levels and lack of breeze meant that they took nearly a day to dry!

Living in the campo our monthly bills are slightly different -

electricity - 5€ (no mains, just solar plus occasional generator)
phone - 50€ (mobile only)
Internet - 46€ (can use voip but still use mobile as well)
water - 48€ (mainly for irrigation)
council tax - couple of euros per month maybe
rubbish - 0€ (we have to take ours to the village bins)
gas - 1 bottle for fridge, 1 bottle for hot water (winter only)

Certainly no need for tumble drier here on the Costa Blanca, BUT, there are people living on this urbanisation that have them. We don't get the humidity, so clothes in summer will dry in a couple of hours, even thick beach towels.

I was referring to the Costa Blanca actually. I guess the humidity levels differ greatly between the North and the South - my Spanish base is Denia. And normally clothes dry very quickly but last summer during late July/early August the humidity was exceptional. It was the first time that I felt the need for air conditioning as we find the mountain breeze is usually sufficient.