# Expats/Immigrants in Asturias



## Guest

I have lived here, out in the countryside, for about a year. So far, I have only met one fellow from the UK (living in Asturias for 8 years) and an american family in Gijón (living there for 13 years), and neither are on this forum. Are there others on this forum living in Asturias?


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## baldilocks

mysticsmick said:


> I have lived here, out in the countryside, for about a year. So far, I have only met one fellow from the UK (living in Asturias for 8 years) and an american family in Gijón (living there for 13 years), and neither are on this forum. Are there others on this forum living in Asturias?


There are one or two just over the border in eastern Galicia.


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## Guest

Aye, aye, aye... you're all living in the sunny south. Thank you for the quick reply.


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## GUAPACHICA

mysticsmick said:


> Aye, aye, aye... you're all living in the sunny south. Thank you for the quick reply.


Hi - well, you've missed me by about three years, before which I was resident in Asturias for nearly four years - in a small pueblo, west of Oviedo, between the mountains and the sea!
I envy you your own location -as you've described it, previously -a finca in the hills? I'd have loved that, but needed to live where there'd be other people with whom to socialise (I arrived with my dog and a jeep) and, given my pretty dreadful Spanish, back then, access to basic shops and services! I did have to travel to and from Oviedo, daily, by bus, for a year or so, for work purposes, but after that, thank goodness, I was able to teach, locally.
The coastline's spectacularly beautiful, as you'll know. I got to know the stretch from Gijon to the Galician border where remote, empty beaches were plentiful! Cudillero was a favourite haunt, even if well established on the tourist map. As a dog owner, I spent many hours, every week, exploring trails in the forested foothills around my pueblo -the Spring and Autumn colours are still imprinted firmly on my brain! 

i'm no mountain climber, but did spend time exploring a section of the 'Picos de Europa' with a friend, along with the famous 'lagos '(lakes). Stunning landscapes - incredible that Asturias is so little known and visited by our fellow countrymen! Mind you, I made a point of keeping quiet about its virtues, when visiting the UK - although its climate should continue to preserve it from future 'over-development', with luck! 

As I've posted, previously - the Asturian people are the jewels of their province - the culture of hospitality and generosity is in their very genes, wouldn't you agree? If I'd stayed there, any longer, I'd probably have burst, given the many invitations into my friends' and neighbours' kitchens to sample their traditional, home-cooked dishes -I was never allowed to leave an Asturian home, without gifts of fruit, veg. tortilla, jamon and cider..!

The Celtic music and dance are pretty amazing, too, aren't they? 

Saludos,

GC


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## Guest

Everything you say is true and more. And, like you, I have been reluctant to broadcast Asturias' virtues toooooo much. It remains the Green Coast of Spain. That said, there are heavily industrialized towns and coal powered plants are still used to produce electricity... but, there are changes in the works, and environmental concerns are now being taken seriously.

We live in a rather broad valley, filled with small farms, with hills on both sides and only 5 kilometers from the coast. My wife was born in Candás (once a small coastal fishing village, now boasting 10,000 inhabitants). We get to the beach as often as possible. And, as we sit beside a country lane that is part of El Camino de Santiago, we meet people from all over the world making the pilgrimage.

Dogs: yes, definitely on my list. My last companion passed 3 years ago and I am ready for another... another Irish Water Spaniel.

Here's a great Spanish language video on YouTube about Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia... towns along El Camino de Santiago:


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## misspicky

*Asturias*



mysticsmick said:


> I have lived here, out in the countryside, for about a year. So far, I have only met one fellow from the UK (living in Asturias for 8 years) and an american family in Gijón (living there for 13 years), and neither are on this forum. Are there others on this forum living in Asturias?


We bought a house near Cangas de Onis last May 2013 and have spent 6 months out there, various trips since buying the house. We adore it and are heading out again (last trip was a month over Xmas) at the beginning of June. Have met some lovely people through the forum, who are now very good friends. It's very useful having a local to help with any problems, one of the couple is Spanish and the other English, they have lived in Asturias for a long time.
I got a lot of very useful help from this forum in the months before we bought our house.


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## fevmor

Hello,
We moved to Asturias in March. Not had much time to spend on the computer as we moved all our animals to a smallholding in the picos and have been busy trying to refurb solar panels to give us enough power to run basic electrics, hunt down a wifi router that actually works and and get our goats and ponies registered, and finally make our land wolf proof! Consequently not had any time to get out and about much. 
We are in the 'pre parque' above Cangas De Onis.
Look forward to hearing from anyone else living in Asturias


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## misspicky

Your not too far from us then, we live about 10 mins from Cangas in San Martin de Grazanes. If you would like to meet up sometime when we are out, get in touch. I'm not sure if you can e.mail from this site or not, as it's ages since I've used it. It would be nice to meet some other folk who have also decided that Asturias is an amazing place


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## fevmor

That sounds a good idea. Am in the UK at the moment as my mother in law is in hospital, returning this weekend . We are just up above Seguenco . Would be good to meet up. Also not sure how this site works, so let us know when you are around.


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## misspicky

*Meet up*

We are coming back out on Sunday, arriving on Monday evening, we won't have internet until we get to Cangas to charge up our dongle, but you could serarch for me on Facebook as I don't know how to send private messages on here yet. Look for Isobel Silver and see what happens, look forward to a meet up, going to get the map out to see where you are. If all else fails we will have a drive up and look out for some livestock lol.


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## 90199

I am about as far away from Asturias as one can be and still be under the Spanish Flag. However we have holidayed in both Asturias and Cantabrica, I found them both to be a world away from what we have here, nevertheless very spectacular and enjoyable.

I wonder what the winters are like though, we don't have winters here.


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## 213979

Rainy and chilly. However, not many days below 0. It's balmy here for me!


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## Hagalaz

I'm planning on buying something in Asturias. Though I'm still doubting between Asturias or Galicia, since the prices in Galicia seem to be much lower. But Asturias has this lovely environment I'm looking for so I think it'll end up being Asturias. Probably somewhere around Cangas de onis, near the picos natural park.

Do you guys have any recommendations on what agents to use? I'm having contact with Miriam from asturian property and she seems to be very trustworthy and helpful!


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## misspicky

We actually found our house without an agent then found a local Lawyer who did all the legal work for us. The agents charge quite a lot really for doing nothing a good lawyer can't do. So if you find something I'd be happy to pass on our lawyers name. He doesn't speak English, but his sister does and she helped us through the process acting as translator. The lawyers fees overall came to less than 1000 euros.


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## Hagalaz

Oh that would be really helpful!

May I ask how did you find your property? By looking around in the area or by looking at agents' websites and then contacting your lawyer baout these properties?

Did your lawyer find out who the rightful owners of the land were or were you able to find this out yourself?

I have discovered the cadastral map of Spain but I've heard this map isn't always up to date yet


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## highland belle

Hi, I had forgotten which expat site I was registered to lol, so it took a while to find the correct one. We have been out in San Martin since late July and are heading back today. But we are back out on 12th October for 2 weeks. Perhaps we could meet up? I can't post an email address because I have not posted enough "posts" so I can give you a number to contact me on I will write it down alphabetically in case it's not allowed.
*****
Look forward to hearing from you.


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## highland belle

Hi did you end up buying in Asturias? You will not regret it if you have


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## fevmor

*Asturias*



Hagalaz said:


> I'm planning on buying something in Asturias. Though I'm still doubting between Asturias or Galicia, since the prices in Galicia seem to be much lower. But Asturias has this lovely environment I'm looking for so I think it'll end up being Asturias. Probably somewhere around Cangas de onis, near the picos natural park.
> 
> Do you guys have any recommendations on what agents to use? I'm having contact with Miriam from asturian property and she seems to be very trustworthy and helpful!


Hola

We got our property via Miriam and she was very helpful.
Not sure if you are allowed to give out endorsements on here or if they will be edited off.
We have found the area very beautiful and the people really friendly. Even the town hall is Ok to deal with.
Turned up here the first time with a truck with flat battery and the Guardia Civil helped us find a garage to charge them!
Prices seem low and we have even been offered properties in the area if we have any friends that would like to buy


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## fevmor

Hagalaz said:


> Oh that would be really helpful!
> 
> May I ask how did you find your property? By looking around in the area or by looking at agents' websites and then contacting your lawyer baout these properties?
> 
> Did your lawyer find out who the rightful owners of the land were or were you able to find this out yourself?
> 
> I have discovered the cadastral map of Spain but I've heard this map isn't always up to date yet


We also used a Spanish lawyer to sort it all out, lucky to have an English speaking one who even sorted out the NIE in a day


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## Williams2

fevmor said:


> Hello,
> We moved to Asturias in March. Not had much time to spend on the computer as we moved all our animals to a smallholding in the picos and have been busy trying to refurb solar panels to give us enough power to run basic electrics, hunt down a wifi router that actually works and and get our goats and ponies registered, and finally make our land wolf proof! Consequently not had any time to get out and about much.
> We are in the 'pre parque' above Cangas De Onis.
> Look forward to hearing from anyone else living in Asturias



Welcome to Asturias - I've been extolling the virtues of Asturias for months.


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## highland belle

highland belle said:


> Hi, I had forgotten which expat site I was registered to lol, so it took a while to find the correct one. We have been out in San Martin since late July and are heading back today. But we are back out on 12th October for 2 weeks. Perhaps we could meet up? I can't post an email address because I have not posted enough "posts" so I can give you a number to contact me on I will write it down alphabetically in case it's not allowed. Seems like that's not allowed either, presumably someone reads what you wish to post before it's gets through the system. Well just have to continue to post until I am allowed to contact you by another method. Hope you are settling in and enjoying the glorious weather we have been having. Are your animals happy in their new enviroment? Ciao


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## highland belle

Will come and have a look for you when we come back out in October, we will look out for a British car and some animals  found the village on our map


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## flynnboy

Hi Guys, we are living in Ireland and thinking of moving to Asturias or Galicia, we want to be near the coast. Is it possible for anyone to give any indication of any main differences between Galicia and Asturuas, maybe the weather or cost of living, 'something' ?? Thanks !


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## highland belle

Hope you are settling in and enjoying the beautiful autumn weather, still warm enough to swim in some of the beautiful beaches, very quiet now as the season has ended. Recommend


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## highland belle

It's really not necessary to go through an English speaking property agent. It's very easy to find a property by looking in estate agents online or in person, then using a local Abogado, I can recommend the lovely guy we used,he didn't speak English, but his sister who did helped us both. €600 for all the legal work and more, which we were very not expecting. Every last detail was looked into. We still keep in touch and have met up for coffee since. My brother has a house in Galicia, if you love eucalyptus forests, then you will love Galicia. Asturias for us wins hands down, scenery wise, better beaches, easy access to the mountains, I could go on but don't want to bore you. Plenty of bargains if you find your own property, agents take a hefty fee!!! We made a cheeky offer on our place and bought for €40,000 less than the asking price. I've been following some of the agents who are "trying" to sell Asturian property and the prices are totally unrealistic. If you don't have the time to come out and look, which is what we did, 6 days, 26 properties viewed all through local estate agents, using google translate !!! found the one that ticked all the boxes then asked the estate agent to recommend a local lawyer, less than 3 months later we collected the keys, then expect to pay a lot more. If you need any help, I'll gladly offer what we have learned from our easy experience.


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## highland belle

Asturias wins hands down, purely in terms of beauty and amazing coastline, think west of Scotland, unspoilt by high rise development, not over planted with eucalyptus but natural decidious woodland, easy access to the mountains, I could go on .......


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## TheRealJessica

Hello all! 

I realize it's been awhile since this thread has been active, but I just arrived to Gijón a few days ago and wondered if there might be anyone else out there in the city?? I'll have to leave at the end of May but I'm looking to return again mid-June 

Best,
Jessica


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