stuboy

Apart from a milder climate what has Spain really got to offer that the UK can't?. Both countries can boast.

Fredbargate

I think the perception is that as well as the climate it offers a cheaper way of having a reasonable lifestyle.
However I think the cheaper no longer exists.

Richie1892

The climate I suspect is probably the main reason for most moving out anyway, it was certainly a factor for us though probably more for health reasons than for lounging by a pool(which is also nice)
My wife is Spanish but other than to be closer to her mother it wasn't really a factor, I suspect she actually misses Newcastle more than me.
I certainly don't find it cheaper over here in general and I'm not one of those who feels the need to buy British goods or anything like that either, but I love my house, views and yes the sun and can't imagine myself ever leaving. Spain for me has many bad points but they don't outweigh the good, maybe they will in the future but for now it's a from me.

HeikeundAlan

Hola
yep the weather you must realy love the rain to stay in The Uk
has OH has health issues, he is so much better over here.
As for cost 1 asthma inhaller pres. charge 7.85 in Uk
here it cost 3 euro sumat at a chemist no pres. needed.
We will only go bak when we realy need to hopefully never

jackytoo

Despite many quoting things like the culture etc. I think it is mainly the weather. Don't see many moving to cold parts of Spain

snikpoh

For me it was the weather (health reasons) firstly, but then the family values and culture generally which came a close second.

However, had I then known about the 'crisis' and the dreadful state of Spain's economy, I think they would have paled into insignificance for us.

jennieJ

Just a side note on the asthma pumps, I bought a load of the 3 euro ones in Spain for my daughter in the UK, when they ran out she showed one to her GP, although they look bigger they have half the volume in them, so no difference.

Decided instead of acting as a drug smuggler to get her a UK med season ticket for about £120 per annum.

chrisjolly

Do you really need an answer??

1. The weather
2. The incredible lifestyle that living outside offers
3. The cost of living..still much cheaper than the UK
4. The people..generous, kind, community spirited, family orienatated, funny, involved in music, dance and culture.
5. The music of Flamenco
6. Culture, art, cinema and drama.
7. The environment, wild in places, mountainous, desert like, beaches
8. The wildlife, birds, animals and plants
9. The proximity to France, Morocco and Portugal.
10. No Channel to cross
11. No island mentality
12. No rat race, keeping up with the Jones´s, mowing lawns in straight lines and personalised number plates.

The list is fairly endless but will stop now before I decide to spend even less than the two weeks we have to in the UK.

agoreira

I think for the vast majority, the culture bit is a myth! Few get really involved in Spanish life, the language etc, witness the number of posts generated by the thought of losing some Brit TV. They could probably tell you what's happening in Corrie, Eastenders, but struggle to name any Spanish politician apart from Rajoy. I like the person bragging about inhalers being cheaper, if they aren't retired they'll be paying private medical insurance, and in UK 88% of prescriptions are free, very few actually pay, and where I live, it's all free anyway! Expats like to knock health tourists in UK, but I see they aren't that good at paying their bills either, they feature above Bangladesh, and Pakistan when it comes to unpaid bills.

jennieJ

Culture and expats all busy staring a UK TV, (huge panic if talk of a satellite moving a millimetre ) and expat forums on the laptop.

Nearly everyone that asks about going to Spain can't speak Spanish but 'hopes to learn' really quickly

Your right Jacky it's all about the weather and little else.

agoreira

..and mix with "real" Spanish people, enjoy the Spanish way of life. Friends of ours have done just that in fact, but I suspect they are the exception that proves the rule.

HeikeundAlan

Thank you I wasent bragging, we cant afford to live in the Uk as the dole office told us we to old to get a job now(have a small army pension) so no dole money neither, have a house so no rent paid ) we in our 50 but thanks for your concern
and no we cant afford private health insurance neither at present but dont worry listen to you we would be oh so well of back home.
But you know what we staying here because we wake up every morning saying thank you the sun is shining and we alive

cricketman

Spain hasn't got a milder climate that the UK. Spain has much more extreme temperatures, well away from the coast it does anyway

cricketman

It sounds like somebody definitely hasnt integrated

Fred James

We left the UK in 1995 having taken early retirement.

We happened to have a fairly comfortable sailing yacht so we decided to sail away and explore the Med. We lived on the boat in various places for 6 years and then decided that it was time to sell the boat and move ashore.

As we, by then, had no property in the UK we had a clean slate.

We had spent a couple of winters in Spain and enjoyed it so after much thought, (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and France had appealed to us) we decided on Spain.

The appeal was the weather (but that was pretty much the same in all the other options), the cost of living and the beautiful country and the ease of getting back to the UK to visit friends and relatives either by car or by air.

We have never regretted that decision although the cost of living has increased- (not so much because of the limited inflation but because of the exchange rate). To be fair, the UK state pension has now kicked in which offsets the drop in the exchange rate so nothing has really changed for us from an income point of view.

After three years of renting we bought a large plot of land in the Campo and built our dream home on it with views of the mountains and the sea. It doesn't get a lot better than that.

I cannot think of any reason why we would ever decide to move back to the UK. It's pretty good here!