The north/south debate

Anyway, there we were all set for a life down south and here we are all set for a life up north. Our freinds down south think we are mad as it is green up here and that therefore equates with rain - why leave England if we are going to have rain?

But, in England we did not have a large enough garden to grow most of our own fruit and veg; to have chickens which is next on the to do list; to have sheep, which are next on the to do next year list; the only downside of living in Spain is living apart - my husband still works in England and comes across as often as he can - not as often as we would like but that's the price we pay for living the life we have wanted for a long time. It should only be for a couple of years and although we know a lot can happen in that time we have to be positive and make the most of this opportunity.

So, after a lot of thought, ideas, second thoughts, more ideas and much soul searching our life is Spain is really happening and you know what? It nows feels as though we do have a life - a good life so watching Tom & Barbara all those years was worth it - we're here......

Now, where were we????

Anyway having thought that we had found the ideal place to live and develop in Almeria and having discovered that it wasn't and that we wer were being ripped off as well we decided to call it a day and take some time away from the internet, estate agents and Spain itself.

Not so easy because always at the back of our minds was the G word - Galicia. Anyway last July we decided to bite the bullet - we had a trip arranged to Almeria to stay with our friends for a few days in September but an old email acquaintance who we had first contacted re Galicia sent us another email to tell us about a new estate agent he had heard about and gave us his website address.

That was it - we were baited, hooked and booked on a plane to Santiago in August. We had several properties to see with this agent and we had also persuaded my 84 year old father to come out with us to have a look. As we flew into Santiago it was surrounded by forest fires and black smoke was everywhere - can anyone explain the mentality of people who will set forest fires? - in this instance some of it was because of old grudges, some were set by firemen to get more overtime (believe that if you like) and some were set by people hoping to develop the land - big mistake on their part as the laws were changed immediately making it impossible to develop for many years.

Anyway we offloaded, picked up the hire car and started on the drive to Lugo and we fell in love with the scenery - it is stunning, the weather was hot just as it is now, it was lush and green (except for the fires) - we were all amazed and the story gets even better......

Anyway as I was saying...

So there we were facing this estate agent who had aboslutely promised to give us our holding deposit of 2000 euros back if the house fell through and when it did he refused - big mistake - it took nearly a year and cost us nearly 2000 euros but we did get the money back and hopefully taught him a leasson to boot - stop ripping people off.

Anyway where does Galcia fit into this saga - well I'm coming to that - as I said earlier we had had an urge to visit but after our thwarted attempts don south decided that maybe the time wasn't right for a move so we agreed to put it on the back burner for a while and get on with our lives in England.

We were going to visit our friends in Almeria who had successfully bought their land, had their house built and were living the good life - although they had not had an easy passage either so we were booked to fly out at the beginning of August - but always at the back of my mind was this green part of Spain that had a firm grip on me - so we agreed to visit it last August to "get it out of our system once and for all'.

We asked my father, who was 84, if he would like to come out as well - he had been down south with us and was not overly impressed and mindful of his age and not knowing how many more summers he would see, wanted him to at least have an idea of what we were going to do - he duly agree d- he's a very game old boy - and I booked the flights and contacted another British agent with a list of properties we wanted to look at.

We flew into Santiago de Compostela as all the forest fires were blazing so our first impression was not of a green and cold land but of a - literally' blazing hot one with fires raging for miles and the sky heavy with smoke......

Now where was I....?

Ah, yes, trying to explain how we went from looking for a property in southern Spain to ending up with a property in northern Spain. Well, we had always had a bit of a hankering to look at Galicia after reading an advertisment in one of the property mags - it sounded like our kind of area - green - yes I know it rains but at least we have water - forests, rivers and mountains - and hot summers and mild winters.

However, although we had a hankering so see it we had friends also moving down to the south who were singing its praises - mainly how cheap the property was and how hot it was. Now strangely enough I don't really like it too hot - I soon get all hot and bothered and past my best but we decided that south was the place to go and off we went. Now we really did meet up with some weird and wonderful estate agents - both English and Spanish - all had the perfect property at the perfect price and none of them were going to rip us off - some tried, some succeeded and only one of them was really trustworthy and has since gone on to bigger and better things - he has a great new website and still looks and sounds the same because, out of idle curiousity you understand, I had a quick peep at the websites before starting this blog.

Anyway we went, we tried, we failed to find the house of our dreams - we nearly did 3 times but they fell through - some at the first hurdle, one at the last - luckily for us as it turned out.

Now, where was I?

Ah, yes - we looked at many houses down in the south of Spain - in Almeria to be precise but I do use the term house loosely as most of them were piles of stones or had exterior walls but no interiors or had all walls but no roofs.

Anyway that was exactly what we werer looking for - an old ruin we could do up exactly as we wanted - on our limited budget - and then start our own little bed and breakfast empire.

Now, we knew the south was awash with b&bs', villas to rent and any number of apartments but we were going to be opening a different kind - my husband is an ambulance paramedic so to utilise his skills and harness mine we were going to open a b&b for families who had children with an illness that made it difficult for them to have a break in a hotel for example - somewhere mum and dad could come for a peaceful holiday knowing that their child would have someone on hand in case of an emergency and to help with the care of their child.

You will note that I am using the past tense here because the best laid plans....but that is for another time.