A friend of a friend of ours has this thing of coming out with little sayings, one which stuck in my mind from way back was “Spain is a cold country, that happens to have hot sun”. 

At the time I didn’t really know what that meant, but now I do.  Most of the year Spain is warm and sunny, spring and autumn are sheer delight.  The hot summer you can survive, between the beach and the pool and not trying to do too much.  But the brief and brutal winter is HORRIBLE… in homes built to stay as cool as possible in summer heat, every icy breeze penetrates, and the lack of sun in our chilly north-facing villa adds to the frozen misery with damp and mould.  Between us we have never had more colds and respiratory infections, since moving to this ‘healthiest climate in the world’!

Our big mistake was viewing this beautiful villa in the early summer, when it was glorious, spacious and luxurious.  We paid no attention to the lack of radiators, curtains, interior doors, or even a woodburner… and we have spent the winter trying to heat the bits we are living in through a combination of inverting air conditioners (which produce astronomical electricity bills), and a calor gas heater which produces such damp the condensation runs down the windows, creating more black mildew and rot everywhere.  The girls rooms have little oil-filled radiators, that work OK in the smallest bedrooms (and in the office if you actually put your feet on them).  We have also become big fans of the good old hot water bottle!  Basically the strategy is focus on warming up the immediate area you are occupying, rather than the whole house or even room.  Lots of layers, hot drinks.  Warming soups…

So we are OFF.  In just two weeks, to a smaller, warmer place, with friendly helpful landlords, a proper long term lease, and that most wondrous of inventions… central heating!!!  Bring it on.