# Campo or town house ? and why



## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

We are hoping to move out in November to the Axarquia after delaying for a year. We ideally would have liked to purchase a house with a large garden on the edge of a town/village. We now realise that it is highly unlikely that such a property exists. We are concerned that a campo house might prove to be isolated and also illegal.
For those that have chosen to live in the campo have you found it easy to make new friends and find plenty to keep busy with. Also, was ensuring that your house was legal a difficult process.
I'm interested to know how locations and type of properties were chosen and also to hear of stories where you chose to live somewhere completely different from your original plan.
A town house with a bit of garden might be great too, with facilities on the doorstep but we'd love our own pool and a bit of space.
We will rent initially and eventually buy. After having a wobble about buying and considering renting in the long term we now know that having our own place will work best for us.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We live in a house with pool and large garden on the edge of a village....Such properties do indeed exist but maybe it takes a lot of searching to find them.
We didn't really have a plan as such, we spent the first month here in the family's house and drove around looking at places inland but decided we would prefer to stay in the area as we had begun to settle in and get to know and like the village my son and dil bought in about fifteen years ago.
We lived in a piso for six months, hated it as we hadn't lived close to people before and we couldn't get used to it.
It was easy for us to move to the house we've been in for nearly seven years as we sold up in the UK and decided to rent.
One house in Spain in the family is enough.
We found the house we live in through someone we know which is how things seem to work here.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

Yes, there are a few but I think our budget of about €260,000 is restricting too.


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

We bought 7500m2 in the campo (a little west from Malaga) and built a good sized house and pool etc 16 years ago. All totally legal then so that was good. A few mods along the way which may not be but we will see. We are not that far from the nearest town (7 minutes was the record on the school run). One thing we never considered was the amount of driving we had to do to get our daughters to and from wherever they were going. Some days, I was doing 7 round trips a day. Public transport is not an option, we were not happy letting the girls cycle on the country roads alone, too far to walk and often too hot and frequent large stray dogs roaming around meant the car was the only option.
Not that easy to make friends with "neighbours" as not that close and many have other properties where they live most of the time. If I could do it again I would have bought a possibly smaller house with much less land in the town or on the edge. All in all it is still a good place to live though.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Keep looking, these places do exist and well within your budget. We bought a three-bedroomed detached house on the edge of a small town, a few minute's walk from the main square with its little shops and bars. There is no "garden" as such but we have a large, private roof terrace on the second floor which gives uninterrupted views of the Sierra de Cádiz and Alcornocales natural park. Someone remarked the other day "your house is in the town but your garden is in the countryside". There's a lovely municipal swimming pool down the road open in the summer months, so we get the benefit of a daily swim without the effort of maintaining a pool. We paid €160k for it ten years ago, I've no idea what it's worth now but prices are supposed to have fallen by 20-30%. And no, it's not for sale!


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

el romeral said:


> We bought 7500m2 in the campo (a little west from Malaga) and built a good sized house and pool etc 16 years ago. All totally legal then so that was good. A few mods along the way which may not be but we will see. We are not that far from the nearest town (7 minutes was the record on the school run). One thing we never considered was the amount of driving we had to do to get our daughters to and from wherever they were going. Some days, I was doing 7 round trips a day. Public transport is not an option, we were not happy letting the girls cycle on the country roads alone, too far to walk and often too hot and frequent large stray dogs roaming around meant the car was the only option.
> Not that easy to make friends with "neighbours" as not that close and many have other properties where they live most of the time. If I could do it again I would have bought a possibly smaller house with much less land in the town or on the edge. All in all it is still a good place to live though.


It's interesting that making friends with neighbours was a bit more difficult in the campo, and doing it again you would move to nearer a town / vilage. By nature we are not the most outgoing people but want to make a concerted effort when we move to try and integrate. There are groups in the Axarquia which accommodate our interests.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> Keep looking, these places do exist and well within your budget. We bought a three-bedroomed detached house on the edge of a small town, a few minute's walk from the main square with its little shops and bars. There is no "garden" as such but we have a large, private roof terrace on the second floor which gives uninterrupted views of the Sierra de Cádiz and Alcornocales natural park. Someone remarked the other day "your house is in the town but your garden is in the countryside". There's a lovely municipal swimming pool down the road open in the summer months, so we get the benefit of a daily swim without the effort of maintaining a pool. We paid €160k for it ten years ago, I've no idea what it's worth now but prices are supposed to have fallen by 20-30%. And no, it's not for sale!


Your house sounds just lovely but the lack of garden is a real issue as we both love it and my OH wants to grow most of our produce. We know it's often cheaper to buy from the markets but it's the pleasure of producing your own.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

With my experience, I always advise people to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. 

I lost my husband to cancer when he was only 52. He was hospitalised 14 times in the two years he was ill and I stayed in the hospital with him, as is often the custom here. We were lucky that the hospital was only a 20 minute drive away, and I could drive. 

I am now left with a house that is much too large, a garden and pool that I have to maintain (and pay for) by myself, and property is hard to sell in this era of 'la crisis'. 

Whilst not wishing to put a dampener on your exciting plans, (I myself am looking at Málaga when/if I sell here), I do urge you to imagine how your needs might change in the coming years. We woke up one morning to find that our lives have changed completely, and the long life we planned together here was gone. 

The Axarquia is such a beautiful area and I wish you every happiness there. My ideal would also be a property on the edge of a village/town. Maybe we'll be neighbours one day.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

Madliz said:


> With my experience, I always advise people to hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
> 
> I lost my husband to cancer when he was only 52. He was hospitalised 14 times in the two years he was ill and I stayed in the hospital with him, as is often the custom here. We were lucky that the hospital was only a 20 minute drive away, and I could drive.
> 
> ...


I'm so very sad for your loss. I'm a practical person by nature and I've discussed this very scenario with my OH. Apart from the obvious devastation in such a situation my own income would be much lower than my OH's as his pension is much larger and he is physically more able to care for a large property and garden. Your information is exactly what I'm looking for although I wish your situation was different. I hope you are able to sell your property and make a new start in Malaga, and yes maybe we will be neighbours.


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## Relyat (Sep 29, 2013)

We started out with no pre conceptions regarding living in a town or outside.

Spending time in the areas we were interested in was invaluable. We didn't want to have to use a car (or bike) every time we wanted to go to a shop or make use of any of the other facilities a town has to offer, we put up with this for 5 years in Scotland. On the other hand, we also wanted a bit of space and peace from the noise that a town can (and does!!) provide. 

We found our house offered the best compromise. We have a large garden and our own pool. We have neighbours on one side and opposite, all Spanish, (although a German has bought a few doors down) and open land on the other side and at the back. We are 1km from the Poliesportieu which is 0.5km from the town centre. In 25minutes I can be parked in the centre of Valencia.

This was less than half of your budget, although I realise it is not the area you are considering. 

In my opinion, every house that one looks at or eventually buys, is a compromise; perfection simply does not exist. However, spend time and you will find something that suits your requirements. 

Remember, "time spent on reconnassaince is seldom wasted".


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

The well-trodden path is the one that involves a villa to start with followed by an apartment when getting older. We opted to miss the villa stage altogether and went straight for an apartment in a town will all amenities close by. The only reason for choosing an apartment was being able to lock up and leave because our move was part time. We couldn't deal with gardens, land, a pool and the security issues of leaving a large villa unattended for months at a time.

We're now planning to be here full time so revisited the idea of a villa, for all of half an hour. For us it has turned out to be about location. We put too high a value on the accessibility of the town to move elsewhere. Our kids when they come love the proximity of the beach, the local sports centre for playing Padel, and the numerous other facilities.

If we had to move, I would head for an inland town where it's possible to get a small finca that's within a 3 minute walk to the village centre. The properties are beautiful. Small house but quite a bit of land, and in stunning surroundings yet close to others for connection with a community.

Don't compromise. Search long enough and you'll find what you want.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

Thanks everyone for telling your stories, it is all invaluable for our research.


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## EdofWigan (Jun 28, 2015)

I have a similar conundrum. I plan to tour in my Motorhome ( when I have bought it ) for a while and hopefully find my new home, that way


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## GallineraGirl (Aug 13, 2011)

portygirl said:


> Your house sounds just lovely but the lack of garden is a real issue as we both love it and my OH wants to grow most of our produce. We know it's often cheaper to buy from the markets but it's the pleasure of producing your own.


We have a village house with a patio and 3 terraces and are now well integrated into our very Spanish village. However, we still yearned for our own land. We purchased a small allotment in the campo a short walk from the village and we now have our own piece of paradise with mountain views and a year long supply of fruit, veg and flowers. The walk to our land keeps us fit and when we can't manage it we should be able to rent the land. The best of both worlds? I think if you are a keen gardener you will always want some soil.....


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Because we have always lived in a rural area, buying in the Campo seemed obvious
We love our life here, we are fairly isolated and the nearest house is approx 3km away. We have weekend neighbours, passing farmers and sheep, cows, horses and pigs as neighbours.

We are totally off grid, something that you need to make sure your happy doing, we have had to adapt. We have many friends here, despite our rural location and are part of our village life.

We were also looking for that property campo but walk to village but its all about compromise. We accept that maybe when we are much older we will have to move into the village or even elsewhere, but for the moment we are enjoying the life we have out here


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## Kchq (Sep 27, 2015)

Good luck with your move in Nov, why don't you rent different options for a few months at a time and see what you like best. I'm in the middle of our 3week recci trip just now and I've found out a lot about what will and won't work for my OH and I (i.e. can't do hills with his dodgy leg, so Torrox and Mijas pueblo ruled out). Thought I could do an apartment, but that's out completely after just 4 days being underneath very noisy neighbours, so it's a major rethink about our budget and what we will be able to afford when we do finally retire.
We've pretty much used public transport to get from place to place which has been great, and we've found the locals in the smaller villages to be very helpful and patient when I'm trying to speak Spanish.


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

We also live in the campo, however, we looked for an area where we were not too isolated, it was not easy but we found it, there are about 15 houses in the area, and we get on very well with everybody here, not shops or anything in the area but we have the river, the beach, the campo to enjoy ourselves, just 5 mins drive you are in the middle of town, so it is not really that hard work. 

For 260,000 which is your budget, around here you can buy a palace... with a helicopter... lol!


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## GallineraGirl (Aug 13, 2011)

Be aware that campo houses can be very vulnerable to burglary. So, if you're not there all the time....


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

GallineraGirl said:


> We have a village house with a patio and 3 terraces and are now well integrated into our very Spanish village. However, we still yearned for our own land. We purchased a small allotment in the campo a short walk from the village and we now have our own piece of paradise with mountain views and a year long supply of fruit, veg and flowers. The walk to our land keeps us fit and when we can't manage it we should be able to rent the land. The best of both worlds? I think if you are a keen gardener you will always want some soil.....


Having an allotment is an option we might consider but there is nothing nicer ( for us anyway ) than stepping out the house into a lovely fruitful garden.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

My aim was also to have a place in the campo to be able to grow some/all of our own veggies, etc. but SWMBO was very reluctant and used the argument "how long would it take an ambulance to find us, if it were an emergency?"

We live in a village house, (no garden) with an enclosed patio on which there are various shrubs, a lemon tree and a clementine tree plus various troughs and pots (the daffodils and jonquils are just starting to flower). We have very good and friendly neighbours and it is great!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

portygirl said:


> Your house sounds just lovely but the lack of garden is a real issue as we both love it and my OH wants to grow most of our produce. We know it's often cheaper to buy from the markets but it's the pleasure of producing your own.


As houses in the pueblos are all huddled together, with no room for gardens, lots of people tend to grow their produce on the family "huerto" on the outskirts of the village. Like an allotment, the maintenance and the produce are are often shared. I'm sure you would find someone to mentor you in exchange for a bit of digging and hoeing!


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

We live in what you would call a campo house but the view from our terrace is the village on the hill. We can walk to village easily in 10 mins , we have a pool , a casita and more land than we need. There are about 10 houses in this area, all are Spanish some permanent some weekend except us and another British couple. The neighbours are friendly and helpful but being able to communicate with them in Spanish I think has made a massive difference to getting to know them. my Spanish is far from fluent but good enough to have a simple conversation about our family, their family , our dogs etc. The village has all the amenities we need if we didnt want to go anywhere else inc bank,pharmacy,supermarket ,weekly outdoor market and 14 bars and restuarants !. The area will dictate what you get for your budget. We did look at real remote but beautiful properties but realised that was not practical so we have mains water and power, wifi,aircon and tv and this is great. There is a good medical centre in the village and the hospital is 20 mins away. Take time to have a good look and think about yourself living in the environment when you see that perfect house. Good Luck in your search.


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

A house in the campo does not mean it is illegal. Here in the campo, as an example, we have electricity, water, telefono and internet, and it works much better than when we were living in the middle of the town, at least the internet is so much faster!! Telephone never stopped working, as it did in the village and it is a pain having to call telefonica to sort it out. 

Tonight, we had some friends over for dinner, they parked at the bottom of the street and we knew it was them as every dog started barking along the way, it gets a bit mad when you have about 20 dogs (from all the neighbours, and including ours) barking at once, you know 100% someone is walking outside (they are trained to bark mostly at night time), I don't think burglers will care to come here! 

We do have a big huerta (allotments) and a big pond with ducks, chickens, etc, pool, patios, you name it, we have it, lol! We couldn't possibly have all this in the middle of any town...

It got its pros and cons, but nothing is perfect!


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Lolito said:


> A house in the campo does not mean it is illegal. Here in the campo, as an example, we have electricity, water, telefono and internet, and it works much better than when we were living in the middle of the town, at least the internet is so much faster!! Telephone never stopped working, as it did in the village and it is a pain having to call telefonica to sort it out.
> 
> Tonight, we had some friends over for dinner, they parked at the bottom of the street and we knew it was them as every dog started barking along the way, it gets a bit mad when you have about 20 dogs (from all the neighbours, and including ours) barking at once, you know 100% someone is walking outside (they are trained to bark mostly at night time), I don't think burglers will care to come here!
> 
> ...


Totally agree...........................our house 4/5km from village, Solar, borehole etc legal and it was all legal and registered when we purchased it from its previous Spanish owners. Our dogs bark as do a few others, we are very remote and we do not fear robbers. The Guardia Civil do a drive past once or twice a month, wave, toot horn. 

Its all a matter of choice and what you are willing to compromise on.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

I'm aware that lots off campo houses are legal and in particular older properties, but in the Axarquia area there appear to be an awful lot of newer villas built on rural land that have problems with legality.
We would like a property with a bit of character so maybe more likely to be legal, maybe not ?
The information I have received is so useful in assisting us to make choices. The next problem is where do we rent, village or campo ?
The Axarquia is such a big area and we keep going round in circles.


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## The slow walkers (Nov 10, 2015)

We're planning to move to Spain, sooner, rather than later and have owned a small townhouse for 5 years now. We holidayed in the village a couple of times before buying and then decided to take the plunge and buy. It doesn't have any garden, which, at the time of buying wasn't a consideration but now, it's something we'd like for when we retire. Our options seem to be, stay put and use the terraces for planting, rent an allotment or move to a property with some land. The future will decide how we progress but it's always interesting to read how others came to be where they are.

This may (or may not) help COAST, VILLAGES OR COUNTRYSIDE: WHERE TO VISIT OR LIVE IN THE AXARQUÍA | East of Málaga


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## caromac (Nov 16, 2008)

It has mostly all been said and is 'horses for courses'. 

For us, as well as the added security of being in a village, a mountain 'backyard' a minutes walk from the house so stunning that after 9 years it still has the daily wow factor, a beautiful swimming pool maintained by someone else to mention but a few, the fact that the number of flies and other 'bugs' is far fewer than in the campo is undeniable. We have visited friends in their campo houses and have often found that sitting out is impossible due to flies especially in rural areas. 

Many people here have small lush gardens just outside of the village and plots are easy to find.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

We always wanted a house in a good sized town, not in the countryside or a small village. I don't drive and my husband didn't really want to either when we moved to Spain, so it's important to us to have everything we need available within easy walking distance, and to have access to really good public transport links for travelling around. At the same time we wanted to be in an area with lots of historical character and have good views.

Where we live, in a barrio within the original city walls of Vélez with streets dating back to the 14th century, which is really quiet but still only a 5/10 miinute walk to all the amenities of a large town, suits us perfectly. Neither of us would want a garden to maintain so our patio and roof terrace with panoramic views over the town to the mountains beyond is perfect for our needs. I didn't want a pool either as a domestic size pool is about as useful as a bird bath to me, i prefer to do my laps in a pool which is big enough so I don't get dizzy from too many turns!

It is sometimes possible to find houses even in large towns like this one which come with a garden, but they are few and far between and very often they would need a lot of work to get both the house and garden into shape. Some people don't mind putting in that effort, others would prefer to have something in "move-in" condition.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

Lynn R said:


> We always wanted a house in a good sized town, not in the countryside or a small village. I don't drive and my husband didn't really want to either when we moved to Spain, so it's important to us to have everything we need available within easy walking distance, and to have access to really good public transport links for travelling around. At the same time we wanted to be in an area with lots of historical character and have good views.
> 
> Where we live, in a barrio within the original city walls of Vélez with streets dating back to the 14th century, which is really quiet but still only a 5/10 miinute walk to all the amenities of a large town, suits us perfectly. Neither of us would want a garden to maintain so our patio and roof terrace with panoramic views over the town to the mountains beyond is perfect for our needs. I didn't want a pool either as a domestic size pool is about as useful as a bird bath to me, i prefer to do my laps in a pool which is big enough so I don't get dizzy from too many turns!
> 
> It is sometimes possible to find houses even in large towns like this one which come with a garden, but they are few and far between and very often they would need a lot of work to get both the house and garden into shape. Some people don't mind putting in that effort, others would prefer to have something in "move-in" condition.


Sounds like you put a lot of thought in your choice of location. We have lived in towns with lots of open space around us for the best part of 35 years so adapting to a busy town might be a step too far. I keep thinking, would I move to the centre of Inverness or right out into the remote countryside here ? The answer is no, so why consider a town house in a busy town or a remote campo house in Spain. Maybe for retirement it might be nice to have a change and have everything on our doorstep and not have to drive everywhere.
If we are patient there might be house with garden out there, a pool is really optional and not always practical if too wee.
There's a ' doer upper ' in Iznate at the moment on the edge of the village with 1000m sq of garden. We didn't explore over to Iznate so it might be worth a trip. My OH thought he was going to retire but I can see a project coming on the horizon !


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

portygirl said:


> Sounds like you put a lot of thought in your choice of location.


That is what you have to do. So many just go for somewhere because it just happens to catch their eye and satisfy their romantic (or other) notions at the time with little or no thought fo the practicalities or the future (we constantly get older, never younger).

The centre of Inverness, busy??? Get awa' wi' ye quine, it's a wee bitty nice wee toony.


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

Yesterday we were invited to dinner by friends that just bought a house in the middle of town, it was a very nice house in the middle of the old village, very hilly street and very narrow, no space for parking the car, so we had to go round and round and in the end we parked like miles away from the house, then we couldn't find the house as all the streets were very narrow and all the houses looked the same, so we ended up calling them up to come pick us up, lol!

The house was cute, I loved it, but i thought they had people staying as there was lots of noise and it happened to be the next door neighbours! You could hear everything. Then when we were having dinner, you could hear people talking outside on the street and we could hear everything they were saying and laughing about it, then some guys with noisy motorbikes were up and down the road (apparently it is normal). then the next door dog started barking. We could hear cars coming up the road very slowly (uphill) and we also heard the police somewhere nearby... 

They seemed not to be bothered with it all as they are apparently used to all this noise, but for us, it was madness.... campo anyday!!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Having no space for parking cars is one of the reasons why we like living in our barrio - nobody can drive a car up the street much less park one which is one reason why it's so quiet. There is the occasional moto, but we got home from holiday yesterday evening and so far I have hardly heard a sound of any kind, nobody talking outside and not a single dog barking. Although a town house, we are not attached to other houses on either side so no noise from neighbours or their TVs/music/children either. In fact a good number of houses nearby are not occupied for most of the time, they are either second homes owned by foreigners or inherited homes owned by local families who don't live in them.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

I would prefer something between the two. A detached house on the fringe of a village, do they call it las afueras?

Have stayed with friends in the campo and didn't find it very peaceful. There were motos tearing around tracks in the hills and sound really carries. Worse for me was cars going over a bump on the nearest road, clunk clunk all night.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Isobella said:


> I would prefer something between the two. A detached house on the fringe of a village, do they call it las afueras?
> 
> Have stayed with friends in the campo and didn't find it very peaceful. There were motos tearing around tracks in the hills and sound really carries. Worse for me was cars going over a bump on the nearest road, clunk clunk all night.


I suppose it depends on where you live. We have the odd dog woofing but nothing too disturbing. Its a peaceful as anything here.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

We live just around 7 mins walk from our village , we hear the church bells , the bandos announcements and the mascletas and bands during Fiesta but I kinda like that. We have land but we feel close to village life . We have barking dogs , cockerels, horses and goats around us but feel part of village life too. The church bells are really handy to remind you of the time ! Its a really nice compromise not campo so not isolated but able to have land and privacy.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

maureen47 said:


> We live just around 7 mins walk from our village , we hear the church bells , the bandos announcements and the mascletas and bands during Fiesta but I kinda like that. We have land but we feel close to village life . We have barking dogs , cockerels, horses and goats around us but feel part of village life too. The church bells are really handy to remind you of the time ! Its a really nice compromise not campo so not isolated but able to have land and privacy.


We like our church bells too (we are within earshot of two lots) although we might not be so keen if they rang throughout the night, luckily they are silent from midnight until 8am. One of my lovely neighbours has just knocked on the door to return one of my husband's shirts which she found in the street as it had blown off the washing line on the terrace, and 3 others have stopped by today to ask how our holiday went and welcome us back, and to check all is well with the house as they have been keeping an eye on things. Good neighbours are priceless.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

We always new it had to be campo living for us. Having lived in the suburbs of south London for a large part of my life and then, having sold our house, moved to a rented property at the edge of a small town in Surrey and with spectacular views over the south downs, it was a no brainer. So, we live about 9 minutes drive from Torrox Pueblo, 11 minutes from Frigiliana and 20 minutes from Nerja. But we are in the campo with spectacular views over Frigiliana and Nerja, the Med and of course mountains. Sometimes we have to make several trips a day but we always knew that would be the case so it doesn't bother us. As our boy goes to school every day in the village, we can shop on a daily basis rather than have to do a large weekly shop. Of course, one day we will become too old for this lifestyle but that is a few decades away yet and until that happens and we have to move to a town or village, we're staying put. Nice house, nice garden (large) plenty of lemons, oranges, olives and almonds, reasonable size pool, ten cats and three chickens. We have many friends in the villages and visit them often so regularly experience village life which we really enjoy, but after the visit we can return to peace and tranquillity of home.


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## portygirl (May 12, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> That is what you have to do. So many just go for somewhere because it just happens to catch their eye and satisfy their romantic (or other) notions at the time with little or no thought fo the practicalities or the future (we constantly get older, never younger).
> 
> The centre of Inverness, busy??? Get awa' wi' ye quine, it's a wee bitty nice wee toony.


Ha ha Baldi, one of Inverness's recent claims to fame is being the fastest growing City in Europe. We even have traffic jams now !


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## WeeScottie (Mar 17, 2015)

Earplugs every night, doesn't matter where we live x


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

thrax said:


> We always new it had to be campo living for us. Having lived in the suburbs of south London for a large part of my life and then, having sold our house, moved to a rented property at the edge of a small town in Surrey and with spectacular views over the south downs, it was a no brainer. So, we live about 9 minutes drive from Torrox Pueblo, 11 minutes from Frigiliana and 20 minutes from Nerja. But we are in the campo with spectacular views over Frigiliana and Nerja, the Med and of course mountains. Sometimes we have to make several trips a day but we always knew that would be the case so it doesn't bother us. As our boy goes to school every day in the village, we can shop on a daily basis rather than have to do a large weekly shop. Of course, one day we will become too old for this lifestyle but that is a few decades away yet and until that happens and we have to move to a town or village, we're staying put. Nice house, nice garden (large) plenty of lemons, oranges, olives and almonds, reasonable size pool, ten cats and three chickens. We have many friends in the villages and visit them often so regularly experience village life which we really enjoy, but after the visit we can return to peace and tranquillity of home.


Unfortunately some of us have already reached that age.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Unfortunately some of us have already reached that age.


I plan to only reach that age when I no longer realise that I have reached that age...


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

thrax said:


> I plan to only reach that age when I no longer realise that I have reached that age...


I have been wondering whether I should move back to the UK since I can get a free television licence this year. However my researches (looking at the UK TV programme schedule) suggest that this would be a waste of time since what I didn't watch before I left Uk has got worse.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

Lynn R said:


> We like our church bells too (we are within earshot of two lots) although we might not be so keen if they rang throughout the night, luckily they are silent from midnight until 8am. One of my lovely neighbours has just knocked on the door to return one of my husband's shirts which she found in the street as it had blown off the washing line on the terrace, and 3 others have stopped by today to ask how our holiday went and welcome us back, and to check all is well with the house as they have been keeping an eye on things. Good neighbours are priceless.


Fortunately the bells here are the same and stop during the night ! Its Fiesta in our village this 2 weeks so we are also treated to the fireworks displays from our terrace although today has been full on as its the main Fiesta day for one of the patron saints of the village , the mascleta went on for 10 mins or more and then end explosions impressive and the bells and fireworks have giving it some this evening ! The dogs however retreated to their beds for most of it !


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