Spanish Eyes, English Words

One of the few things I miss about England is hitting Poundland - you know, where everything is just £1 and you don't need to ask the price. When we go to the UK in the summer, I bring so much stuff back from Poundland, I've thought about asking them to paint the motor home in their livery. If only we had a Poundland in Spain! Well, now we have - or at least we have Poundshop.com, which ships to Spain. Okay, I know the Dealz shops are our nearest equivalent, but my nearest one is Alicante, and that means leaving Paddy for too long, so that's out.

I stumbled on the site on Facebook, and when I checked it out, I found that they do Paddy's favourite treats - Pedigree Biscrok Gravy Bones - for just £1. I can get them here, but I have to pay anything between €2 and €3, so he only gets them when we go to England or when I'm feeling particularly generous, and maybe a bit guilty if it's been a busy week and he's been left to Tony's tender ministrations more often than either of us is happy with.

Investigating further, there are lots more reasons to buy - Bassets Jelly Babies, Pontefract Cakes, Trebor Strong Mints, Astonish cleaning products, Umbro deodorant for Tony, who will never use one squirt under each 'pit when he can half empty the canister. The list goes on. All in all, I spent £28, and as I signed up for their newsletter first, I received 5% off the order. Shipping is £10 for a parcel up to 30 kilos - at 500g per packet, that's a hell of a lot of gravy bones, so it's excellent value.

On the website, they suggest that you make a combined order with friends and have it shipped to one address to share the postage costs, and that's what I'll do next time. However, as I'd never dealt with the company before, I wanted to see what the service was like before I involved anyone else. If you think £10 is a lot for postage, remember the parcel has to come across the Channel then overland through France and into Spain. And you receive a tracking link which helps you to follow the parcel's progress. The company said I would receive my parcel in 7 days, and it came in 6, with email updates the day before and on the day of delivery, which gave me a window of approximately one hour during which the parcel would arrive. That's very handy, since it saves you having to hang around all day. I had my parcel delivered to our local mail room for that very reason, but next time I'd be happy to have it delivered to my door, as it arrived within the stated time frame.

Looking at my purchases, as well as saving around half price on 4 boxes of treats for Paddy, I saved over £2 on Boots price for Vaseline Essential Healing Body lotion. On the whole shop, I've easily recouped at least double the postage costs, and I could probably order at least £60 worth of goods and still stay within the 30 kilo limit. You also have to consider what these products would cost here. While I tend to shop mainly Spanish, there are some things you just can't get here, or that there is no Spanish equivalent to, like Tony's favourite Pontefract Cakes and Jelly Babies.

Everything was well packed, with bubble wrap and that cushiony plastic stuff to stop it all rattling around the box. What I really loved was that the Astonish spray bottles were enclosed in heat sealed polythene, so in the unlikely event they got broken, it wouldn't ruin the whole order.

If I have one small criticism, it's that some of the categories only have a few items in them, so there isn't the choice you would have in an actual store. However, I would imagine that would be addressed as the company expands its overseas business, and I certainly managed to get everything I wanted.

If you miss your British bargains - after all, there aren't that many of them - head over to Poundshop.com and start shopping. This time next week, you'll be unpacking your very own bargain box!

Read all about life in Spain at Sandra in Spain.com

One great thing about attending motor home rallies in Spain - or anywhere for that matter - is that you get to visit places you may never have found on your own. And very often, these places are designed to be motor home friendly. In other words, you can park up and forget about it, because everything is within walking distance or on a bus route. Torre del Mar is one of those little gems that everyone likes to find, because it's a small, beautiful town with lots to see and do, and it's all on the level and within a few minutes' walking distance.

We were camped at Camping Torre Del Mar, which is right in the town. It's a medium sized camp site, with a swimming pool, restaurant, supermarket and free wifi, and there are various special low season offers. The site is open all year round, and the beach is directly opposite, while the town's shops and restaurants are just a short walk away. There's also an enormous field adjacent to the site, which is ideal if you have dogs to exercise. Over the few days we were there, Paddy bonded with the resident horses, to the extent that he got a goodbye lick from the big chestnut just before we left. So he had a good time, and if Paddy's happy, everyone is happy.

If camping isn't your scene, there are plenty of hotels and apartment rentals, all as close to the beach and shops as the camp site is. But if you're self catering, don't think you need to waste hours of your precious holiday slaving over a hot stove. Torre del Mar has literally dozens of bars and restaurants, and it won't break the bank to break your fast. Most places put on tapas and a drink for between €1.50 and €2.00. At our favourite tapas place - Bar El Enfora, we ordered albondigas, calamares, Russian salad and a shrimp cake, which was similar to a potato rosti in appearance, and large enough to share. With two glasses of wine and a large beer, it set us back around €6.50. Yes, you read that right!

However, the prize for best value has to go to Casa Victor, a restaurant located just up the road from the lighthouse which gives the town its name on Avenida Tore-Tore. Our rally hosts Tony and Anne have been dining at Casa Victor for 26 years, and have never had a bad meal, so that was recommendation enough for us. The Menu del Dia - which is served all day and all evening - is priced at just €6.50 per person. That doesn't include drinks, but it does include welcome tapas and three courses. Unusually, there are around 25 main course choices, including oxtail stew, several varieties of fish, and all sorts of meat, poultry and pasta dishes. With house wine at just €7.50 a bottle, we both got well fed and watered for under €25, including a tip. Torre del Mar  is a small place, with a lot of restaurants, and most of them had a good choice of Menu del Dia for between €7 and €10

It wasn't just us who were bowled over with the prices in Torre del Mar either - several times we heard people remark that it's much cheaper than it's bigger, noisier neighbour Malaga, which is just 22 miles away if you want to check for yourself. We had intended to go into Malaga, but there was plenty to keep us occupied where we were. There's a big market on Thursdays, and several of the bars put on live entertainment in the afternoons and evenings. And there's a good selection of shops to browse, as well as the beautiful promenade and the beach. Actually, the beach is a bit of a disappointment after the golden sands of our nearest beach at Guardamar - the sand is reminiscent of builder's sand - but the views over the neighbouring mountains are stunning. When you've soaked up enough sun, why not stroll along the promenade to the marina at Caleta de Velez? There are plenty of shaded areas to rest, and lots of bars should you need to refuel en route.

Whatever you're looking for in a getaway in Spain, you'll find it in Torre del Mar, and as a bonus, it's easy to get to on toll free motorways. It's 280 miles from our home in Algorfa, but we did it in around 5 hours of steady driving. If you want to go via the coast road, it's not too much longer that way, but the motorways are pretty scenic - particularly the A92, which goes through the Sierra Nevada. Put it on your Spanish Bucket List, and try and be there for one of their fiestas.

Like what you just read? Then check out Sandra in Spain.com for more.