We began by flying to Seville and heading for the south coast on a holiday  with friends. We stopped at a place for lunch called Jerez en route to the Costa Ballena and the sea. This was the point we decided to sell up in France after owning a place there for 25 years and buy somewhere in Spain. It took five years, and there were a number of times when we thought it would never happen. Two years of covid was not a great help but on the first weekend the French lock down was eased we sold the house in France.

We had a list of criteria that any  prospective house or site  had to fulfil. The property had to be somewhere with all year round access to eat out and some bars etc. It had to have things to do out of season. A pool! A garage or private parking. A downstairs shower and toilet. A fully  accessible site (with old age and less mobility  in mind for the future). It had to have great transport links, ie an airport close by, rail and road links and lastly no more than 20 mins by car from the beaches.

Over the five years we embarked on a series of road trips to find the ideal place to buy including one to the incredible cities of Salamanca, Avila, Segovia & Madrid. Stopping at the Escorial and the stunning Real Sitio de San Ildelfonso to name but a couple of incredible sites we visited during these trips. The one thing that remained constant throughout these many trips was the hopsitality, helpfulness and friendliness of the Spanish people  we met.