It used to be that to retire in Spain you had to have had a career robbing banks or coshing train drivers. That is no longer the case. Instead, an estimated 750,000 Britons have bought retirement houses in Spain, many of whom have led blameless lives in Britain.

Many claim that Spain has the best climate in Europe, good flight connections and an excellent healthcare system. The most popular destination is the Balearic island of Majorca (nicknamed God’s waiting room by locals), closely followed by its smaller neighbour Minorca.

Minorca’s capital, Port Mahon, was once home to Nelson’s fleet in the Mediterranean, and its residents are enthusiastic about the charms of the island, but the pace is slower and it does not have the same social cachet.

The poet Robert Graves retired to Majorca in his thirties and created an artistic community there. This is the place for a busy retirement fuelled by Dom Perignon, where the golf courses are lush and there is always a bridge table nearby.

“A decent house in Majorca costs between £800,000 and £1m,” says Jeffrey Quirk, chairman of JQ International, a fiscal and legal consulting firm that operates throughout the continent.

Michael Evans, who has had property on the island for 23 years, says: “The days when you could sell an average house in England, buy an above-average property here and still have 50% of your capital are long gone. Anybody who isn’t selling somewhere in central London will find it difficult to find a good property for the same price. And the likelihood of ending up with any spare cash is slim.” If you bought a property in Majorca for £200,000 five years ago, today it will be worth about £450,000.

The second most popular destination is Andalusia in the south. This is Spain’s most varied region, with the beaches on the Costa del Sol, skiing in the Sierra Nevada and sherry production in Jerez. Most British people head for Malaga and then end up in Nerja, a pretty town further along the coast. Prices peaked here in the 1970s, but are picking up again. Margaret and Guy Thompson bought a three-bedroom house for £55,000 four years ago that is now worth £135,000.

The third most popular retirement destination is around Costa Blanca and Benidorm, on the east coast. It’s rather like retiring in England, but with sunshine for 300 days a year. There are English shops, English pubs and more readers of the Daily Express than anywhere else in Europe. And bargains can still be had, with good properties for less than £80,000.

If you’re prepared to spend the first few years listening to language tapes, and can afford it, you can choose the Costa Brava, the wild coast between France and Barcelona, or Galicia.

According to Evans, however, nothing beats Majorca. He and his wife, Maureen, first visited Port Andratx in the southwest corner of the island 23 years ago. They fell in love with it immediately.

“In terms of quality of life for a retired person from any northern- European country, it is wonderful,” he says. “If you’re working, the fact that it’s raining and blowing a gale outside is inconvenient. When your time is your own, you huddle over a television until you feel you have to fight your way down the road to get some exercise. Here we live outside. The locals are friendly and the infrastructure is fantastic, you can get to anywhere in Europe in two hours.”

Maureen Hanratty, who moved to the Costa Blanca six years ago when her husband died, is equally enthusiastic. “If you’re feeling down you can walk onto the seafront and often you’ll meet somebody to have a coffee with. People have time here.”

However, for some retirees there is a big gap between dream and reality. Kathy Wraith and her husband, David, decided to take semiretirement in Majorca four years ago. They stayed for 2½ years before coming home.

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