Eleven years, five homes and one cave house later

Why we started this site

We’ve lived in five houses in different parts of Spain. We’ve done the coast, we’ve done rural life, and we’ve done the deep inland, traditional village life where none of the local shops or bars spoke any English.

Every time we moved, we looked for recommendations: places to visit, to eat, to go for a beer. Too often we relied on the huge review websites, which were littered with fake reviews, or Facebook groups with clearly biased admins and reviews from fake profiles.

So Soph and I decided to start this little website to talk about life in Spain from an expat’s perspective, and to leave totally honest, impartial reviews of the places we visit.

How it all started

It began with a flight into Málaga and a viewing mission that took us from Sedella all the way up to Murcia. We viewed twelve properties, and it was the very last one that ticked every box.

So we rented it for 18 months, not far from Tallante in Murcia. Puerto de Mazarrón was our local beach and supermarket run, and Fuente Álamo was the weekend market. Unfortunately, the house needed work, and despite what looked like serious subsidence, the landlord was unwilling to do anything about it.

Next came a six-month flying visit to Hondón de los Frailes. It was there that we had a change of heart: we were committed to life in Spain, so it was time to buy.

The cold road to a cave house

We were on a very tight budget, so we did what a lot of people do and Googled “cheap house to buy in Spain”. We were stunned at how cheap some of the options were, including cave houses.

We put the dogs into kennels and Soph booked us into a hotel in Baza for three nights, with ten viewings lined up. I was driving, she was on her phone, and somewhere on the way down she asked, “Have you seen the temperatures down here?” I confess I hadn’t. The next day’s high was 7 degrees, so at the next services I pulled over and asked her to check again. She was right, and the whole week ahead was no warmer.

Then came the conversation: “Do you want to turn round, or shall we carry on?”

We carried on. Over four days we viewed properties in several towns, including Galera, before going back to a cave house with a pool that we’d really liked. We made an offer and bought it. (It was only later that we found out the sellers were into swinging. You can read that story here.)

Outgrowing the cave

We had a wonderful two and a half years at the cave house in Cuevas del Campo, but with three dogs we outgrew the small garden. So we moved to the other side of Lake Negratín, into the campo at Freila: a lovely big villa with large gardens for the dogs.

But boy, were the winters cold. The cave house at least had that natural, steady temperature. The villa, I found, was very cold indeed.

Home in Catral

That’s what brought us back up to the Alicante area, where, thanks to Soph’s research, we discovered Catral. We’ve really made this house our home and have just celebrated four years here.

We have a lovely walled garden plus a field, four dogs, chickens, ducks and geese, and fruit trees. We’re 20 minutes from the beach and 20 minutes from Alicante airport, with mild winters and lovely summers.

Is it our forever home? I’m 99% sure it isn’t. As we get older and have fewer animals, we’ll probably look to downsize one day. But for now, this is where we are.