My husband arrived first, at the beginning of November (for Brexit reasons), then a couple of weeks later my dog, a Blue Merle border collie, and our three cats arrived through a pet transport company. I arrived at the beginning of December with our two girls, then aged 7 and 3 years old (nearly 4).
When my husband arrived in Spain we had nowhere to live, as the purchase of the previous houses we wanted to buy fell through. My husband had to stay with friends that luckily lived nearby where we wanted to live, in Alhaurin el Grande. My husband then had to find a house for us to move into at the beginning of December when I arrived with our girls.
He saw a few houses with Mediterranean homes and found the house that would be perfect for us.
Kelly was absolutely amazing, she got our offer accepted, and helped guide us through the sale which completed in around two weeks!
Kelly was so professional, kind and helpful. She made the whole experience as smooth and stress-free as possible. She listened to all our feedback and her extensive knowledge of the area made it effortless to find everything we wanted in a property within our budget.
The house we bought was in an urbanization called Sierra Gorda, which means Fat Mountains. Opposite us is Sierra Chica, which means Little Mountains.
We love living here so far, it has everything we need and more.
Our house is a detached Villa with a private pool, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, one of which is en suite, a large living room with an open fireplace, separate kitchen, large covered terraces, two upper terraces, a roof terrace and a very big garage.
The views from our house are amazing, the sunrises and sunsets are stunning and so vividly colourful. There are mountains all around, we can even see El Chorro in the distance and in the winter the large mountains are beautifully covered in snow.
The blue skies and sunshine do wonders for the soul and with over 300 days of sunshine every year there is no way you can be vitamin D deficient which is also wonderful for your health and mental well-being.
There is a stunning mirador, viewpoint, at the top of the mountain which you can easily walk to. If you don’t mind going slightly ‘off road’ you can walk all the way around the mountain, from door to door in about 40 minutes, depending on how fast you walk and how often you stop to admire the view! There are several lovely little communal green areas with benches, water features and manicured gardens scattered around the urbanisation.
At the bottom of the mountain, not far from the entrance, there is a large communal area, which includes a padel club which has 4 padel courts and amenities. There is a children's playground with covered picnic benches, manicured gardens with a large water feature with a bridge you can walk over. There is an exercise park with a ping-pong table. An enclosed football pitch and open gardens you can walk through, perfect for walking your dog or just getting your steps in. Not forgetting the big ‘Sierra Gorda’ Hollywood style sign.
There is a very friendly social community feel, everyone we have met has been lovely and welcoming.
We are really lucky here to have shops and restaurants on site.
Jolumen, a warehouse style store where you can find most things including wine, frozen food, soft drinks etc. They also have a cafe, a great place to meet the locals and they often have a bouncy castle for the kids.
La Tavola By Miky, a lovely bar and restaurant just by the entrance to the urbanisation. They serve great fresh food in a welcoming friendly atmosphere. Their Sunday calvarys are very popular, along with their fish and chip Fridays and pizza evenings. They have live singers and bands playing along with karaoke nights etc, lots of fun!
Jardinsur 2000 is a great garden furniture store, of great quality and at a very reasonable price. The staff are very friendly and helpful.
Guadal Market is another shop selling everything you need, they also have a fresh fruit and veg section and a bakery full of all kinds of delicious treats.
Kapuy Sushi is available in guadal market on fridays and Saturdays, 11am - 8.30pm freshly made sushi to take away that is delicious and a real treat!
Also, not far from the entrance to Sierra Gorda, opposite the road near the roundabout is Restaurante-Venta Platero. They are a family restaurant providing all kinds of menus for over 25 years. They do a Menú del día, a three course menu of the day, for 11.00€. They are very popular in hosting events and celebrations such as weddings, baptisms, company lunches, family birthdays or work meetings.
There is a mix of different styles of homes on Sierra Gorda. They vary in size and style from a traditional Spanish bungalow to a large contemporary villa and everything in between.
There is a diverse mix of people that live here, we have met people from the UK, Spain and Denmark so far. There are families with young kids, older kids, professionals and retirees.
There is an affluent community with real estate agents, personal trainers, solicitors, mechanics, a member of the town hall committee, writers and so many more (I’ve not met everyone yet)!
There are some holiday homes but mainly people live here full time or at least the majority of the time.
It’s been a wonderful first year here so far. Our girls are settled in their Spanish school and have made lots of new friends. The school has been wonderful and again everyone I’ve met has been lovely and welcoming and willing to help out when we need it.
Dealing with paperwork in Spain is a little tricky and can be tiresome but I feel it’s a small price to pay for all the wonderful perks of living here.
I have loved exploring new places to walk the dog, finding woodlands and rivers to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
There is still so much to see and do, we love trying out new restaurants and being able to dine al fresco is a novelty for us that hasn’t worn off yet. At the time of writing this we are in November and while the nights and mornings are a little chilly it’s really warm, like shorts and t-shirts warm, for school pick up at 2pm.
I feel so very grateful to be living here, I have to pinch myself daily to remind myself this is real and not just a dream.
Viva España!!
