First Wargame in Spain - May 2006

By early May 2006 the soldiers were unpacked, sorted out and put on the new shelves. The scenery squares were completed and painted, and we were ready for our first game. This was to be the first of many happy hours spent in our favourite room of the new house.

Wargames Room - April 2006

One of the important considerations why we choose this house was that we could extend the downstairs to provide sufficient space for our wargames room. Fortunately we choose the house when it was still "on plan" so we could have the extension done at the initial building stage.

One of the first jobs when we arrived was to find a carpenter who could make us a wargames table and shelves to hold the model soldier collection. We designed the table to fit the available space, and also to have shelves underneath to hold the spare scenery squares.

The table and shelves were completed, the soldiers unpacked, the scenery tiles made and painted and all done within one month of moving in!

There are no windows in the wargames room, but we had these glass bricks to allow as much light as possible.

The shelves were carefully planned to ensure that there was sufficient space for all of the model soldiers, and also deep enough to hold the army trays.

Parcent - April 2006

We moved to Spain on 17 March 2006

Car Port

Front of House

Main Bedroom

Sitting Room

Swimming Pool

Naya

View of Parcent from the Naya

Parcent - June 2005

The house is not due to be completed until November, but we received these photographs from the builder in the middle of June, to show us how much progresss they have made. The front of the house is certainly looking good. And it even has a footpath, in place of the previous springy length of wood.

The rear looks to be almost finished, including the stairs at the side and even the swimming pool.


We had problems trying to imagine how the pool would be done when we were in Parcent just last month. But its been built up and the pool taking shape nicely.


Another view of our pool, and next door. They have certainly made a lot of progress in just one month. All we have to do now is find a buyer for our house in UK!

Parcent - May 2005

The purpose of this visit was to sort out some paperwork with the solicitor, and select tiles and kitchen fittings with the builder.

We booked a hotel in Benedorm for a week and hired a car. So we could travel up to Parcent each day to walk around the area and see what progress had been made with the house. We also took the opportunity to measure various rooms to see what furniture would fit.

Not a lot of progress with the front of the house. Still looking pretty much like we first saw it. This is also the least impressive angle of the house to view, as it looks like a very small bungalow from the front.

Taken from the next house down. The house is taking shape, but its very difficult to picture what the swimming pool will look like (on the right of the photo)

Jan is standing at the bottom of the back of the house, where the swimming pool will be.


There is only one street in Arenal. There are about 30 houses from an earlier build. All occupied, and for some time by the look of them.



The view directly ahead from our balcony. This was to be our screen saver for many months until we finally moved to Spain.

Jan looking to the left on the balcony. Lovely views down the valley towards Jalon and the mountains beyond.



The view to the right from the balcony is towards Orba and again the mountains beyond.

Benidorm - May 2005

In May we returned to Spain to complete some paperwork on the house purchase, and also to choose the tiles and kitchen fittings. We booked a hotel in Benedorm and arranged a hire car. We spent a lot of time in Denia, where this photographs was taken on the sea front

This one is on Denia beach. A short break from paperwork with the solicitor

We found Benedorm to be much more attractive than we had imagined from what we had seen on TV. It has a lovely promonade, and a very interesting old town. There are, of course, a lot of visitors and it reminded us of a sort of Blackpool in the sun.

We caught the tourist train to Alicante for the day. It is a much more pedestrian friendly city that we would have thought, and it has this lovely tree lined promonade along the side of the sea front. Lovely day, but very tiring.

Parcent - January 2005

We asked Dave and Sue to leave us at the house, so that we could walk back to our Casa Rural in Alcalali, and explore a little of the area on the way. Walking into Parcent we passed this orange tree, and this photo was to become Jans screen saver at work.

From Parcent we could see a path which seemed to lead to Alcalali. We had a little trouble finding the right path, and ended up going over this hill first. We were rewarded with this lovely view of Parcent

Our first walk through the Jalon valley from Parent to Alcalali. Although we were not sure of the path, we could see the church tower of Alcalali all the way.