BRITS make up two-thirds of holiday home buyers in the verdant northern region of Cantabria, knowing they can lay their hands on excellent deals and a way of life that differs vastly from that seen on the Spanish Costas.
Rolling green hills, dairy cattle, central European-style chalets in gardens with lawns and hedges, clean and attractive towns and cities, picture-postcard villages and dramatic countryside for walking, cycling or riding horses mean Cantabria often appears at first glance to resemble Switzerland, France or Germany rather than Spain as many Brits know it – and, in fact, quite a lot like the more attractive and less agricultural rural parts of the UK and Ireland.
Perhaps a feeling of 'home from home' – seeing grazing cows and emerald hills may be less of a culture shock than palm trees and pine-covered rocky mountains, although the 1,000-metre-high Picos de Europa range adds a more exotic feel – or perhaps the fact it has not been invaded by mass beach tourism is some of the pull of Cantabria for British buyers.
Or perhaps it's the fact you can buy apartments with two to four bedrooms in the stunning Victorian-style seaside city of Santander for as little as €58,000, or a comfortable-sized villa with a plot size of over 1,000 square metres for between €115,000 and €150,000, making a home in Cantabria an excellent investment for the future as well as a more affordable holiday destination than the tourism belts.
Whilst the Costas are blessed with sun-drenched, idyllic golden beaches, superb tourist facilities, over 300 days a year of bright sunshine and a guaranteed three- to four-month summer, as well as a more exotic, holiday feel and winters where you can sit in a pavement café with a coat on and not suffer as you would doing the same in the UK, Cantabria is a perfect option for those who are not so fussed on sweltering heat and in-the-shade temperatures soaring to 35ºC in July and August.
If you don't mind a bit of rain and cooler winters – which are still warmer than in Britain and with more hours of daylight, given that it does not get dark until nearly 18.30hrs even on the shortest day – you'll be rewarded with a much more temperate summer but with less unpredictability in the weather than in the UK.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com