moving to almeria region

Can recommend Urcal, near Huercal Overa, lovely and peaceful, nice group of ex-pats as well as Spanish, 12 minutes from H/O, 7 minutes from the motorway, roughly 40 minutes from Albox and/or the coast, Voss homes serve the area as you might notice driving around, 3 supermarkets in town, tapas etc, in Urcal we have doctors surgery, two bars, one more Spanish, Bar Amazir mostly frequented by the ex-pats, everyone helps each other, Place in the Sun been twice and due again.

A haven of tranquility, we love it.

Didnt include the pool query.

Partner has one, just now in the process of having it jetwashed, acid washed and regrouted, waiting for the all clear to get it refilled. Good for some ten years.

I wouldnt say a pool is an extravagance when you weigh up how great it is in the heat to jump in and cool down. Ok you need to keep on top of the chemical balance, but thats easy enough and pool supplies can be bought from various supermarkets, partner has a pool heater which we should get the best use out of this year, extending the "pool season" by months early and late.

Partner also had an enclosure fitted over the pool patio which altho its said to reduce the inside temps still gets hot enough to get a nice tan in !!.

Jump on in lol

thanks for your reply ill definatly check out urcal as im in the process of researching a few areas, i was told electricity is expensive in spain, so a pool could work out expensive with a pump running all summer wonder if you could confirm this thanks.Also how is the cost of living in spain

Hi, you dont need to run pool pumps all day/week/year, a few hours a day during off peak will suffice.

Electricity is round about the same as the UK but you dont have the numbers of companies to swap and change to/from.

Gas in the main is by bottle or cylinder at around €15 each, gaz used on a kitchen hob lasts months. We tend to use 8 litre bottled water at around a €1 euro each with a pump, there are outlets in towns where you can re-fill empty bottles for free, some people swear that the quality and purity is just fine but there are other fountains that are non-potable which really is just for animals.

Council tax here is so cheap. You'll pay a couple of months worth and then youre done for the year, budget around €250 for the whole year vs £16-1800 and rising for youre average semi in the UK

You can pop over to Mojacar sea front, or Garrucha etc and get white linen table cloth meals with up to 12 starters, 12 mains and 12 desserts for an average of €12.95 to €15 euros, half price pizza large for €6 euros with a sea view, 

There is a market on somewhere every day, 7 days a week for bargain clothing and great fruit and veg, fish tends to be a bit expensive or at least on a par with the UK, supermarkets we have 3 in H/O, Mercadona, Consum and Lidl are cheap but no-where near nasty, fresh french style bread greets you as you walk in the door.

Asia shops abound, we have 5 in H/O lol, where it-s almost like if you cant find it you dont need it.

The newly opened RMU Corvera airport and Almeria are both just over an hours drive away, Ikea, Leroy Merlin and Brico Depot in Murcia and Almeria are around 90 minutes away.

Here in Urcal we are 12 minutes from town, 7 minutes from the A7 E15 motorway, we have a doctors surgery, an ambulance station just 12 minutes away, small junior school, small but well stocked Coviran supermarket, we love it. Message me when youre in the area and we could possibly meet up.

Only thing we miss really is most everything closes on Sunday so if you have a project you have to get all youre stuff in before then, but we've recently come across another Sunday market village that has a market, a large Spa shop as well as a good sized Ferretaria, (hardware store) so even that problem isnt one really lol.

Gas srations fill youre car for you !!

Oh forgot, Place in the Sun have been twice and centred on Bar Amazir and are due here again shortly !!

We love it.

thanks for your help the more i hear the more inviting it sounds to move to spain i just need to find the right location so hopefully ill visit for a few weeks to do alittle exploring and get to know a few areas thanks again for the information much apreciated                   best wishes Steve

Glad to be of any assistance.

Yes are correct electricity is expensive having just gone up 25%. We don't find the pool pump costly to run but would think it's down to the type of pumped used. If you aren't really worried about not having a pool then it's an obvious saving.

Eating out is much cheaper as is wine etc, other than that we have found the cost of living is similar to the UK, certainly not as cheap as it once was but what price do you put on much better weather?!

Weather and a slower nicer way/pace of life. Safer way if life too.

The Spanish, especially in this region are in the main really nice and helpful and there are a surprising number who try to help with everyday things like getting things from pharmacia, help lines etc etc, we always reckon you get there in the end lol. It's fun people watching, you check out someone you think may be english but who bump into friends and start speaking spanish at 100 mph and people you dont reckon who on hearing you speaking english will have a chat in the lift going up or down at the supermarket or just enjoying a coffee and tapas in a local bar lol

Pool has been sorted and is being filled as we speak, looking forward to getting it filled and the air source heat pump up and running and maybe even getting in the pool before the end of the month now we're getting more sun thru the day and for longer, check out the ad in the local paper by a company called Poolex I beleive for typical running costs of a pool heater.

Their system is more expensive than partners now but she had hers installed around two years ago.

Combine cheaper food and drink as before, fresher if you check out all the daily markets, the ability to eat out more frequently than you ever could in the UK, it's a bit of a no brainer lol.

I live in the village of Palomares,just to the north of Garrucha and about 400 metres from the beach. My apartment is in a complex which has a communal pool maintained by the complex's caretaker,nobody hardly ever uses it,so it would almost be exclusive.I' m currently in the process of moving to another place in the village,so if you might be interested it is for sale through Angel Properties telephone number 0034 950618054.

Rob