If you’re looking for the perfect blend of sunshine, celebration, and lifestyle, the Gandia area on the Northern Costa Blanca offers it all, especially in October and November. This is the time of year when the air cools slightly, the light turns golden, and local fiestas fill the streets with colour and music. For anyone considering buying a property...
The big sweat! ... So, dear reader, yes, I know you are there, and we are here in the sweltering late thirties of another different summer in Spain. The big saving factor of course is that we are already geared up with air conditioning. In our case, we only have it in the bedrooms as we generally benefit from a through breeze from the door to the balc...
Room with a view ... When we left the UK and moved to Spain to begin our big adventure, we really had not one single thought of how we would proceed. I will clarify that (yeah that would be useful – Ed). So, we were moving to an area that we had really heard nothing about except what we found on YouTube and we had not been able to visit the property p...
Look at the man with a smile on his face (Jonny Lang)... Why is he starting this latest epistle from La Safor with the lyrics from an American songwriter/singer, you all ask? You didn´t? Oh! Well, I´m going to tell you anyway ….. So, first of all, I may have mentioned before that this area proliferates with bands, who play in a multitude...
This year's Spring weather ... Dear reader, As I sit at my desk, tapping away at the keys on’t laptop, the sun is shining away outside the window and what clouds are visible are a goodly distance away up the valley and showing no signs of wanting to progress nearer. Such has not been the case this spring! Most un-Spain like, it has been to be sure! I...
The sun, it has arrived!... And so it is dear reader, yes you ……. in the corner ….. pretending that you’re not actually interested in this. And for the rest of you, there will be a written test to follow! The sun, it has indeed arrived. After what feels like a good spell of, grey and rain that we associate with the Br...
Fallas Season ... So here we go again. It’s silly season in Valencia Province! For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with me on this newsletter (and why not? Ed), every year we have the Fallas (pronounced Fiyas). This is another Spanish custom from way back when the carpenters used to burn off their excess offcuts of woods to make way for...
Here comes spring again ……. Yes, we are in February already. January with its unpredictable weather is behind us and February, OK, with its unpredictable weather is well and truly upon us. Well, that’s just the way it is now. Unpredictable is the watchword! But it has to be said, that we have had quite a few very comfortable...
New beginnings……. It was about this time of the year back in 2020, when my wife and I sat at our kitchen table back in the United Kingdom and switched on the laptop to distract us from the grey, wet misery outside and the equally grey misery on the TV and radio. We had been looking at properties in Spain for some time, having made the plan to...
Almost Christmas again ... So, here we are then and it’s almost Christmas again! I know I’ve said it before, but where on earth did this year go? It has been a busy one, that’s for sure! At a quick glance, our circle of friends has grown, our Spanish language skills are getting slowly better, we have learned even more abou...
Another year passes ... Yep! Another year is passing rapidly now. The last few weeks haven’t exactly been the best for the Valencia province, with huge floods and loss of life, although here in the Gandia area, we have been extremely lucky, mainly due to the foresight of the Gandia Ajuntamiento (Town Hall) of the time. About three years ago I be...
Getting around ...... So you’ve decided on your new home in Spain and made your way through the variety of thoroughly enjoyable idiosyncrasies of the buying process (because you used seasoned professionals such as ‘’For Sale By Sally in Spain’’ to guide you along the way) (not much of a plug then! – Ed). You’ve furn...
The Spanish Lifestyle 2024 .... So, you are seriously thinking about, even looking forward, to moving to Spain? That’s great, because despite the sometimes highly questionable and often utterly misleading articles on the likes of Facebook et al, it’s a great life over here! But! Yes, there’s always a but, isn’t there? You do need to...
Changing times …… I constantly smile, mostly with derision, at the scare tactics and misinformation constantly fired at my mobile ‘phone, despite having a Spanish registered ‘phone contract. “Huge fines for British tourists,” is a favourite. These, when checked into, refer to urinating on the beach or on the front of bu...
The summer is upon us …… So we are barely into June, but the temperature says it is already August. Having said that, if our mobile weather forecaster is anything to go by, the middle of next week will bring a couple of days of heavy rain and somewhat stormy conditions. Of course, we desperately need that rain. There has been precious little o...
