Are the Spanish moveing away!

Hi

We are new to this forum, hello to all.

We purchased our house in Cortes de la Frontier up in the mountains 4-5 years ago and are now considering reversing our lives, basically spending 10 months of the year in Spain and the remainder elsewhere.

Presently we run a guest house in the Lake District and have ambitions to do similar in Spain, as Cortes lies between/affronting two National Parks and the clientel we are used too hopefully would be similar.

Having read various posts over the years, it is clear that many of you have a tremendous wealth of experience when it comes to matters relating to living in Spain and with such in mind we would like to ask the following.

When we first purchased, although Spain being heavily in recession, our villiage was quite vibrant and seaming wealthy, numerous shops, well stocked supermarkets, mixture of bars, and local businesses, a lot of occupied property, probably 90% occupied, predominatly Spanish.

Visiting frequently over the years it did not seem to change that much, but in contrast when we was there in March, having previously been there in December, the change was noticeable, broken street lights, dirty streets, a great number of shops and houses shut up and for sale, supermarkets with reduce produce on the shelves, established bars and businesses closed and a lack of people, the place resembling a ghost town.

In speaking to some of the people who still remained, they said it has been caused by people who had relatives that lived in places on the Coast and Seville, that had  left seeking employment two or so years ago in other countries, having established themselves they had influenced villagers to join them.

They said that there had been an exodus before, but never on this scale, and presummed people would return.

My question being, has it happened in your town/community, if so when?

Also are you in agreeance that things will return back to normal as of 4-5 years ago?

I watch place in the sun on tv on often wonder why anyone would buy a place that is about as far as you can get from a dream these mountain villages  are full of old Spanish people for a reason they were born there and don't know any different  nobody else wants to live there, why would anyone especially a foreigner want voluntarily place themselves in such isolation with no one to converse with this is certainly not my idea of a place in the sun.

Migration elsewhere to seek better times is traditional in Spain. The Spanish have been doing it for centuries.

Usually if people are successful after their move they don't return, except perhaps to visit. Spain's countryside is littered with abadoned Cortijo's when people left during the civil war. They never returned. The young are ambitious and working the land does not form part of their life plan.

In France the miration to the cities has been a serious problem for many years. The countryside villages are like ghost towns except for retired Brits. and greenies trying to live self sufficiently.

It's a modern trend I'm afraid. People seek wealth over life quality. That is not going to change.

I wrote a blog post related to this a little while ago. Here's the link if anyone's interested:

http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/thoughtsofeggcup/11525/Young-Spaniards-in-the-UK-(OJO-SOBRE-EL-REINO-UNIDO).aspx