It’s been six months since Shropshire hotelier Kevan Downing sold up and emigrated to Spain with his wife Pauline. Here the former Hadley Park House Hotel owner tells their story. 
Six months on since our arrival in Spain, it’s a very warm Sunday evening on the roof terrace of our house Sol y Aire, in the village of Pinos del Valle in the Lecrin Valley. Thankfully we are 2,300 feet up in the mountains, so we benefit from a lovely cooling breeze
I am not a writer but wish I could describe the beauty and stillness of the mountains that surround us.
Lake Beznar has taken on a turquoise colour and looks like a giant mirror with the reflection of the surrounding valley painted on by some famous artist.
Our luxury bed and breakfast business has taken off fantastically well with a volume of business far beyond our expectations for the first year.
I know it’s called the world wide web, but I could never have imagined when creating our website that we would be welcoming guests from as far afield as America, Australia, South Africa and so on.
They arrive in the village full of curiosity and sometimes apprehension, and we watch the stresses and rigours of everyday life fall away, without much effort on our part … the house, valley and locals seem to help take care of that.
The day-to-day realities of life in Spain are very simple. When dealing with the government laws and regulations and paperwork, be very very patient, and seek out a quality solicitor.
Ours now seems like a best friend. Rafael and his wife Marina run a very successful partnership in Granada, and help many bewildered expats through the complexity of Spanish law, with a certain tongue-in-cheek Britishness. In fact the more you get to meet and know the locals the more you realise how similar to us they are, or at least we used to be.
Shopping locally for DIY, furniture and electrical goods turned out to be our biggest challenge, not only from a language point of view but also the fact that B&Q, Homebase, Comet and Ikea or their version don’t exist. Their shops are small and specialised, so again patience and a good map are a must.
The bonus is they usually have what you want in stock and are ready to deliver it the next day — and they telephone you to let you know what time they will deliver on the day.
We have learned the complexities of owning an outdoor swimming pool the hard way. The previous owner decided to take all the pool equipment with him (no doubt for use in England!) so we set off to buy the appropriate equipment.
We set about restoring our pool after the effects of winter. The problem was we bought equipment for a jacuzzi, and I couldn’t understand why it was taking me all day to “hoover” the bottom of the pool. I now have a permanent stoop.
Luckily, and finally, Pauline persuaded me to engage the help of Simon, our local pool guy, who didn’t snigger too much — well not to my face — and pointed us in the right direction.
The excitement of Pauline’s parents coming to visit early on to see our new home was added to by the fact that they are well known for “helping out with any jobs”.
My father-in-law built up a sweat in the March sunshine, painting the back garden gate with glue! Well, it did look like varnish on the tin and he seemed very relaxed on the vapours!
I think the clue should have been when Luis, our neighbour, came to watch and couldn’t tear himself away!
Consequently we have been attempting Spanish lessons with our version of a female “Mrs Doubtfire” — the red lipstick fascinates me every time. We thought we were coping well until it got on to body parts. I’m too afraid to ask.
- Are you a Shropshire expat? We’d love to hear from you, and see your pictures. Please contact starfeatures@shropshirestar.co.uk
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