“It’s great - and only costs us around €50 a month to run”
Accountant Jane and Neil, who works in business development, from the Wirral were looking for a
holiday home in Spain to enjoy with their five grown-up children and the grandchildren. Following a
visit to A Place in the Sun Live Manchester in March 2022, they went out to film in Spain a month
later looking for a three-bedroom property with a budget of £100,000 in the Gran Alacant area of the
Costa Blanca. The show concluded with them accepting the counter offer of £106k for property
number four, for sale at £109k.
Jane and Neil are just about to make their sixth trip to Gran Alacant when we catch up with them in
January 2023. The couple report that everything has gone very smoothly and they love their new
place in Spain. “We went over in May to complete and get the keys [less than two months later] and
with the place ready to move into it was just a case of replacing some furniture,” says Jane, 53. “Our
plan is to visit every other month, as we are both still working. But it’s all very easy.”
The apartment is just 10 minutes from Alicante airport, and able to choose between flights from
three or four airports in the north/midlands they find trips over relatively affordable – at £200 return
for them both. They’ve grown to like the Gran Alacant area, although Jane had ne ver visited it before
the show.
“It’s quieter and more friendly than nearby Torrevieja, although we do love going to visit the seafront
there, which is really buzzy with restaurants and bars,” says Neil, 60. “Gran Alacant has its own
commercial centre and it really easy to manage to get everywhere without a car.”
The couple go to Carabassi beach – a long strip of sand backed by sand dunes – every day when they
are out at their apartment, it’s a 30-minute walk. “We also like to visit Santa Pola and Elche.”
The couple have re-configured the basement floor of the house to accommodate another couple of
bedrooms so they will be able to accommodate their large family – it’s affectively got five bedrooms
now. “I am just blown away that we could get a whole house for our budget, I had only expected to
get a flat,” says Jane. She says it’s also affordable to run, with community fees of €80 per quarter,
and with all the bills included, it’s only around €50 a month.
There’s also a feeling that it was meant to be as the previous owner, Jamie, had named the
apartment “Casa Jaime” and it was with the inheritance from Jane’s mother - known as “Jai” – that
the couple were able to buy the property. “I’d advise people to just do it, go and buy a place, it can
be very easy,” she says of the whole experience, although she wasn’t the one who suggested they
apply for the show. “It was a bit of vanity, I always liked the idea of being on TV,” says Neil. But their
new home is far from being a vanity purchase.
