A year in Andalucia – why we’re moving to Spain

Malaga 7 – London 15! This is not the latest football score ….  I’ve just left Malaga in the pouring rain to go back to the UK which, surprisingly, is lovely sunny and warm.  Rain in Spain is good for the garden, and good for the olives, or at least that is what we say to each other to stay positive.  But not so great when you are trying to get warm in a house in ‘el campo’ without central heating. One aspect of having a house in Spain that continues to surprise me.  It can be cold!

Before I go any further, a brief introduction.  I am Marijke, a Dutch national, married to Hilary, a Brit, and we’ve lived and worked for many years in and around London.  With two grown-up children, we decided in the usual empty nester way to do something entirely different, which in our case was to buy a holiday home in Spain.

Did we plan well in advance how we would do this?  Or consider how often we would visit? Or realise what we were getting ourselves into? Or try to calculate the various risks, with Brexit on the far horizon?  Or indeed did we do anything that normal sane and considered people would do? No, of course not! We plunged straight in, having seen the house of our dreams on an impulse visit to Fuente del Conde, near Iznajar, around one hour’s drive due north of Malaga.  

Brief note for anyone thinking of buying a house in Spain:  beware of viewing houses during the month of May, when the spring flowers are at their best, the temperature is delightful, the sun shines brightly, the water sparkles, and everything, even the worst hovels, look charming.  I have compared notes with a number of our non-Spanish neighbours who have a house in ‘el campo’ and, not surprisingly, May was a popular buying month for most!

We’ve now had our Spanish house for more than three years, and it has been an incredibly interesting and fun adventure (mostly!).  Our friends often ask when we will move to Spain permanently and retire there. Now retirement is not something that I have thought about much.  I like working (mostly!), and I wasn’t ready to give up my London life and live in the middle of olive trees for the rest of my life. But then a friend re-phrased the question, and simply said: ‘why don’t you live in Spain for just one year?’ And this suddenly seemed a much more attractive proposition.  No commitment for ever more, but a way to spend a good long chunk of time in our lovely Spanish house, and really knowing what it is like to live there, with a dream to become fluent in Spanish (unlikely to happen!) and really integrate with our Spanish neighbours. So, decision made …

From next September we will be moving to our house, Casa Campestre, in Spain for a whole year.  This fortnightly blog will be about the build-up to our move, the practical things around moving to a new country, our thoughts and feelings, and the stories of our experiences and adventures during our one year in Andalucia.  More next time …