Hello Kim,
Thank you for all that, that's very helpful. Quite a lot of those I had already looked into! So I'm feeling quite chuffed, lol. I don't have a car, so won't have to worry about that at the moment. I think I'd be a bit wary of driving in Spain, with them driving on the other side of the road to us.
Pilar de la Horadada & San Pedro del Pinatar as other places we'd looked at, so I may give them a miss.
I have already built up a good rapport with an estate agent, so will probably stick with them, but thanks for the recommendation.
Take care,
Jenny X