Welcome all,
We are a retired couple with a comfortable budget, liking historical towns (up to 50,000), beaches, cycling as a way of local transport, good food, and looking for a place where to buy a townhouse with character.

Lived in Biarritz and seriously thinking about the north of Spain, a place where we can invite the posh children for holidays.

Can someone help with suggestions, please?
Good luck

Hey Gabriel
About 30,000 Jim. It is in fact a fantastic city with plenty of life, a great local population and a very Spanish town, unspoilt by foreigners who tend to integrate rather than segregate.

You can read about Xativa and other such towns in the Inland Trader which you can download online.

As I write for this paper I am obviously biased but it is one of the best informative newspapers in the area not quite the Times, but causing concern for the CB News

You can download this at www inlandtrader.net

There are also local info about other towns as they generally run a regular feature on local towns.

Regards

Hi,

Based on what you have said I would recomend that you look at somewhere like Cangas de Onis in Asturias. It is not necessarily that cheap by Asturian standards but it is set about 10 kms inland from the most fantasic beaches and it sits at the foot of the Picos de Europa. Combied with its riverside setting, lush greeen fields and ancient history it is in my mind one of the nicest places in Spain.

Just 1 km from the town there is the most fantasic Parador (Bienvenidos a Paradores) set alongside the salmon river and Covadonga (look it up on the internet) is only a few kilometres away. I only wish I had more clients buying there so that I had an excuse to visit more often.

regards


Glyn Moran
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Dear Gabriel,

I suggest you to check also the northwest region of Galicia, in wich building costs are lower, food is great and there are some nice old towns near the beaches. Check for instance towns like Noia (35 km from international airport of Santiago de Compostela). turism information
Greetings

Cristina Garcia
Architect
Galicia Dreams ------> home

Any more comments on north spain?

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Definitely Asturias and Galicia are worth a look - the weather is slightly better in southern Galicia (around Vigo) than along the north coast and the seafood is fantastic. Prices, though lower than in much of Spain, are considerably higher you would pay in say northern Portugal or even in some areas of southwest France.

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San Sebástian has always come highly recommended to me by all my "posh" friends although I have yet to visit it myself. A colleague and good friend who used to manage one of the top hotels there kept telling me that it has the highest ratio of michelin stars per sq metre of the world. Or was it per capita, can't remember, but there are lots of them.

[quote=Glyn the Lawyer;1881]Hi,

Based on what you have said I would recomend that you look at somewhere like Cangas de Onis in Asturias. It is not necessarily that cheap by Asturian standards but it is set about 10 kms inland from the most fantasic beaches and it sits at the foot of the Picos de Europa. Combied with its riverside setting, lush greeen fields and ancient history it is in my mind one of the nicest places in Spain.

Just 1 km from the town there is the most fantasic Parador Bienvenidos a Paradores[/url]) set alongside the salmon river and Covadonga (look it up on the internet) is only a few kilometres away. I only wish I had more clients buying there so that I had an excuse to visit more often.

regards

Being Asturian myself I can tell you that Cangas de Onis is a good choice. Maybe a bit too small if you are thinking of a place of around 50,000. If you want to go back to the UK often or just for convenience it is worth noting that Easyjet flies from London Stansted to Asturias airport (some 100km from Cangas) and RyanAir flies from Santander to several other places in Europe (a bit more than 100 km from Cangas). This makes the place an ideal location and completely unspoilt, at least by non Spaniards.

Cangas would be lovley for the picos but I wouldn't go much further west because it rains more than it does in the Lake District!