Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies and ideas.

 Thanks for all the replies - we will be starting in the south and will look at all the suggestions given and then go north to Denia / Javea etc after. Wish us luck  :)

 Claire T, thanks for your reply, we have 4 days driving around so will take a look when in that part of the area

Sanchez1, sorry i missed that bit of info off. As long as my internet access works well i'll be working from home :)

Hi, my wife and i are flying into Alicante soon, hiring a car and spending a few days driving around to begin sourcing the area we would like to relocate permanently to. We will probably rent to begin with while we find the right place to buy or build.

We'd happily live inland as we are very happy to embrace the more Spanish way of life. If anyone can recommend good areas for us to check out that would be extremely helpful. The type of area we are looking for would be either a decent sized village within 10-15 mins of a larger town/city, or on the edge of a larger town/city. We will be looking for good schools (happy to educate through Spanish school system), good medical facilities (good hospital) and some sport/social facilities. Basically not too isolated, but not slap-bang in the centre of a large town either!