A British couple from Somerset is part of a small but growing wave of Britons turning their backs on the Spanish hot spots of the Costa del Sol and Blanca
VILLENA – Sue and Andy Whaites could have chosen a new life in Benidorm or Marbella but instead wanted to live in “the real Spain“.
The British couple moved from Britain to Villena, a small city of about 36,000 people about 30 minutes’ drive inland from Alicante which is a world away from the resorts of the Costa Blanca.
There were no British bars or communities where English is the first language.
In Villena, they discovered a neighbourliness which reminded them of a Britain which they believe is fading away.
The couple are part of a small but growing wave of Britons who have turned their backs on life in the sun on the Spanish Costas in search of the other side of this varied country.
The Whaites met Spanish friends at a medieval festival last weekend organised by a community group. The group helped to change El Rabal neighbourhood in Villena which was plagued by crime but has now become fashionable.
“We wanted to move here in 2002, originally from Somerset in England, with two young children,” said Mrs Whaites, 61, an accountant.
“And we wanted real Spain. We wanted to experience a foreign country rather than moving from England to England with the sun.”
The Whaites had relatives who lived on the Costa Blanca but they decided this life was not for them.
“We flew over to see a couple of houses which were terrible. We picked up an English newspaper which could get on the coast. And we just flicked through. We picked one out in Villena. We didn’t even know where it was! We had to get a map out,” said Mr Whaites, 63, a semi-retired mechanic.
The couple bought a 500-year-old house with 10,000 sq metres of land for just €93,000 (£78,252) in 2002.
After a frantic dash to sell their home in the UK and move their family – and two horses – to Spain, they knew they had made the right decision.
“We were looking for property with space. You can’t get that on the coast. But also we wanted our children to experience Spain,” said Mr Whaites, who is part of a British community which numbers about 200 in Villena.
“We weren’t moving to another country to just live the same life with a bit of extra sun. That wasn’t what we were looking for.”
Family values and neighbourliness are very strong in Villena, which this British couple believe have been lost in the UK.
“The sense of community, yes, it is very strong which I think has been lost in England. And family values,” Mrs Whaites said.
“The fact that everybody knows everybody and says hello to you and if they don’t they still make the effort to know you. And it sounds silly but the cooking is like what we ate when we were children, stews and things like that.”
However, the couple have brought a little taste of Britain to this corner of Spain by introducing their neighbours to curries.