Hi, I have decided that it would be a good idea to start a blog, to chronicle the (possibly) many ups and downs of our impending move to Spain.
As most people who know us know, Lorna had some health problems late last year, and whilst undergoing many tests and hospital visits continued to struggle on teaching dancing for about 20 classes a week. Just before the summer holidays, about June, I came up with the hairbrained idea that we should consider moving to Spain, maybe try and find somewhere with a bit of land and possibly build a couple of log cabins for people to holiday in, self catering but maybe a bit like a luxury getaway. On top of that, and I truly don't know where it came from, I suggested we could keep some Alpacas...
Now to be honest I didnt really know anything about Alpacas, only seeing an ugly one at a zoo in Prague and what I'd seen on the internet, but the idea had come from somewhere. Lorna kind of laughed it off, and just kind of said 'maybe in a few years' but it must have stuck because a few days later she wanted to know more about the idea and we have gone from there.
In between those few days and now(19 days away from the move), it has been a bit of a crazy time, we have decorated our house from top to bottom to go on the market, been away for a weekend checking out Alpaca farms, I had two viewing trips to Spain on my own, to stop Lorna falling in love with everything, then we went over together in August and agreed to buy the place we found. It is a rural property, close to a town called Montoro(above right), Lorna announced to the school she was to stop teaching, then she has still had to organise exams, presentations and comps. The weve just had Christmas, its been mental to be honest.
On my first trip to Spain, I had met up with a couple I had been put in touch with, Nigel and Ginny Cobb, who are trying to establish an Alpaca farming industry in Andalucia, hopefully growing outwards throughout Spain. Their enthusiasm and love for these rather lovely animals is infectious, and the next time I went out, this time with Lorna, we stayed at their place for a night and discussed our requirements and the way forward.
Nigel and Ginny put a package together for us, and we have now put down deposits on four Alpacas, Black Dancer, Cassandra, Lima and Bermuda. Bermuda is already in Spain with Nigel and Ginny, and the others will be shipped over from the UK in January after being in quarintine.
We hope the first two, Cassandra and Black Dancer will be delivered in February providing our land is ok for them...how scary.
