Information on the area outside of Northern Ontinyent

Hi Pauline, I don't think there are many active members from Ontinyent. The only ones I can recall are those asking for English speaking estate agents or abogados or....anything really!

https://www.spainweather.es/spainnews-en.php?id=5705 

Be prepared for winters that will feel very cold indoors with single skin walls, little insulation, badly performing windows and a lack of a decent heating system. Once the sun sets you will be reaching for the hot water bottle, woolly socks, extra layers, high tog quilts and dreading late night trips to the freezer (bathroom).

Have you actually been there before because looking for the right house in the right price bracket doesn't always lead to the right area for you?

Hi Pauline,

We have owned a house for 41/2 years in the area I think you are looking at and yes it can be cold in the winter in fact it has snowed on two separate years but as we come from the north of Scotland we don’t find it a problem, the main thing is the temperature swing from day to night.  The houses are not really built for the winter as they tend to be used as summer houses our neighbours only use theirs from May to September. When we have been over for Christmas the house is very cold to begin with but with the shutters up and the wood burner lit it warms up and after a couple of days it starts to retain the heat. We Have found the area to be safe and the neighbourhood to be very friendly, there has been a couple of break ins but as a lot of the houses are unoccupied for long periods this is maybe understandable. Ontinyent has been spending a lot of money on improving the town and we have noticed the difference over the 41/2 years of ownership, there are many very good restaurants and cafes and there is always some kind of fiesta going on. 

Hope this has been of some help

Regards Bruce. 

Thank you for the details Cheryl. We are researched and are purchasing a property with central heating and log burner., we are from Yorkshire so are used to the cold.

Appreciate your help.

Regards

Pauline.

Hi Pauline 

We live about 17 miles from Ontinyent and go there quite often, and it is where I had to go to get my Residencia, so although I can't tell you anything about your chosen area, I can tell you that, whilst it is still very Spanish there are quite a lots of Brits there too. We also live inland in a very Spanish village and love it and we love our old Spanish village house.  Yes it is probably harder to heat than modern houses, but once you get the walls warm it is cozy, and with it's thick walls and shutters it stays lovely and cool in the summer. We do not have central heating, and have found that our preferred method of heating is a pellet burner rather than a log burner and if you buy a decent sized, good quality one, it warms up the whole house. You can even run vents from the bigger pellet burners to other rooms. As someone else said, the thing that is difficult to adjust to is the difference in temperature from day to night in winter. It can have been 20'C+ in the day but will drop suddenly as soon as the sun goes down so you need open out the house when it warm and sunny and the shut everything up as the sun goes down. 

You may find this small facebook site useful, 'Ontinyent, Xativa and surrounding areas'.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/317412455299543/

There are probably other facebook sites that cover the area too.

Good luck with everything.

Kind regards

Gail

Thank you so much Gail, very useful info.

We are moving along well..noted the details on cooler/cold nights...perhaps I'll avoid giving my cosy bedding to charity. 😊

Regards

Pauline.

We have lived in Ontinyent for 13 years and I am also from Yorkshire. We love it and yes the winter evenings can feel cold but if you have heating then no different to being in UK except that the days are warmer and you can still spend much more time outside. The worst months are usually Feb/March.....I personally can cope with that. The area you talk about must be above El Pilar and I am sure you’ll love it.

Hi Pauline

That is good to hear. You will definitely need your cozy bedding in winter here - we even took lots of our friends advice here and treated ourselves to an electric blanket for the depths of winter. It was a great buy.

All the best with the move