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Recently nine foreign residents of the Serrania de Ronda featured in a documentary on local station Charry TV. Journalist María José García asked these immigrants from Canada, France, Norway and the UK about what attracted them to this area and why they decided to live here full time, some for many, many years. They also talked about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on their lives and were asked for their ideas on how to kickstart tourism in the area, once things with Coronavirus start to settle down.
All nine residents are either involved in tourism in some way and/or are writers, or Spanish teachers. A couple also offer services to other foreigners who need help with translation, interpreting, gestoría, the law and officialdom in general. Applying for residency, getting a TIE, enrolling on the padrón, finding a doctor, opening a bank account, getting kids into schools, importing a foreign vehicle, interpreting at the hospital. You name it, there are people who can help you either free of charge, for payment in kind or for a small fee.
The aim of this Secret Serrania article is to feature what Karethe, Carolyn, Heather and Wayne, Charlotte, Paul B, Delphine, Julie and Paul W have to offer and to provide readers with links to their websites and contact details.
Tourism
Several of our interviewees let property to visitors to the area through the Vivienda Rural system. Each property is registered with the Junta de Andalucía and is issued with a licence number. Rental properties are strictly controlled to ensure standards of accommodation and, in this Covid-19 afterlife, standards of hygiene are maintained.
Carolyn Emmett, who lives in Montejaque with husband Kevin, has a second property in the village, Las Hormigas, which they let to tourists.
“The last two years have been pretty bleak with regards to bookings although we did have a couple over Easter,” said this Englishwoman from Stratford-upon-Avon who has lived in the village since 2012. “We’re hoping things will start to pick up once the summer comes.”
Carolyn also produced a guide to Montejaque in 2012, containing information in both Spanish and English about the area and with local, national and international recipes. Copies are still available to buy at the Town Hall in Montejaque, priced at 10€.
For details of Las Hormigas, a charming village house which sleeps up to five people, in high-quality accommodation, click here.
Paul Bowles has lived in Ronda full-time for the last five years and built a second house in the Barrio Padre Jesús in 2017. This former fruit distributor from London and his Human Resources Manager partner, Louise, decided to give up the rat race and plunge all their energy into their life and work in Ronda.
“We’re both learning the language as fast as we can and we feel we are making good progress,” said 55-year-old Paul. “I was happy to do my TV interview in Spanish to show that we are determined to integrate with the local people.”
For details of Casa Clavero, a modern house in one of the oldest parts of town, click here.
Paul Whitelock and his German wife Rita have two rental properties: Villa Indiana in Fuente de la Higuera, Ronda, and Casa Rita, her former home, in Montejaque.
Rita says: “Our last booking at Casa Rita was in February 2020, just before the first lockdown. All our subsequent bookings had to be cancelled or postponed indefinitely. We hope these unfortunate people will be able to come later in the year.”
Casa Rita is an old village house which sleeps up to four people, plus a couple of young children by arrangement. Like a ‘tardis’ the house is larger than it looks from outside and has four terraces/patios. The roof terrace offers one of the best views of Montejaque and the surrounding countryside. For further details, click here.
Villa Indiana is actually Paul’s and Rita’s home but they are happy to let it to discerning tourists, who will appreciate the pool, the garden, eight terraces/patios and the rural setting. For details, click here.
Also involved in tourism are husband and wife Heather and Wayne Pickering, who own and run Hike and Bike the Sierras, based in Ronda. They emigrated from the UK to start their business from scratch in 2012. The business developed well and expanded until the pandemic hit and wiped out all their bookings.
Along with the others above, Wayne is adamant that the future for them is in national tourism, ie Spanish people, who are a large market, already here and desperate to get away, and also in foreign residents of the country. Rural tourism in general, away from crowds and out and about in the fresh air, is one of the safest options at a time like the present.
Also focused on rural tourism, Frenchwoman Delphine Duboys has lived in Spain for 26 years. She moved to the outskirts of Ronda from Madrid in 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic left her and partner Fernando out of work.
“We already had a small place here near Ronda, which was to be our retirement home,” Delphine told Secret Serranía. “But because of the circumstances in Madrid we decided to bring our move to Andalucía forward.”
Now they operate Paddock Paradise Ronda, based in La Algaba just four kilómetros south of Ronda. The company offers rural horseriding breaks. For more information visit their website at www.paddockparadiseronda.com or phone 649 89 73 27
Spanish language courses
Charlotte Wilmot and her Spanish husband Jaime López, a local boy from Benaoján 15 kilometres from Ronda provide Spanish and English tuition through their company RondaLingua.
Jaime has been a Spanish teacher for more than 20 years and that is how the pair met – he was Charlotte’s Spanish teacher!
Back in 2002, at the age of 27, Charlotte was going through a small existential crisis as Head of Human Resources at a hotel in central London, and when friends invited her to spend part of her summer vacation in Andalucía she agreed straightaway. The group passed through Ronda by chance, but an incident with the car they were travelling in forced them to stay in the City of Dreams (named so by the Czech/German poet Rilke who lived and wrote poetry in Ronda for several years in the 20h Century).
What began for her as a two-month adventure has been extended by 19 years after she met and married her Spanish teacher Jaime.
For details of Spanish courses at RondaLingua, click here or phone 951 35 08 17
Writers
Several of the interviewees are writers, journalists and bloggers.
Karethe Linaae, Norwegian-born, but a long-time resident of Vancouver Canada, came to Ronda in 2012 with her Mexican husband Jaime on a short visit and they are still here, fully-fledged residents of the Barrio San Francisco in Ronda.
“We simply fell in love with Ronda, the Barrio and the surrounding nature,” says Karethe. “It’s so different to North American urban life. However, in order to feel at home you need to integrate into society, make an effort to meet people, learn the language… This was probably the hardest part for me in the beginning.”
Karethe is the Editor-in-Chief of Det Norske Magasinet (the Norwegian Magazine) and a regular contributor to Essential Magazine (English), Society Magazine (English), En Sueco (Swedish) and La Danesa (Danish) magazines. Her book Casita 26 – Searching for a Slice of Andalusian Paradise is available in paperback and as an e-book on Amazon. The Spanish version of the book will be published by Editorial Serranía later this year.
For more information, please go to www.snobb.net (Email: [email protected] )
Paul Whitelock also writes. He is an accredited member of the Costa Press Club and when he first came to Ronda to live in 2008, he worked for a time at The Olive Press. He has also contributed articles to The Observer, Sur in English and the Euro Weekly News over the years. Currently Paul writes blogs for Secret Serranía and EyeOnSpain.
He has a couple of books in preparation, one each on Ronda and Montejaque, both of which he hopes to publish in both Spanish and English.
Here are hyperlinks to Paul’s blogs:
Carolyn Emmett and Heather Cooper are also bloggers on the Secret Serranía website. Carolyn mainly contributes recipes, while Heather writes about cycling and hiking.
Julie Wilkinson and Delphine Duboys are also going to start blogging for Secret Serranía, both on topics relating to the environment and countryside. Julie will also post recipes.
Carolyn Emmett
Heather Cooper
Delphine Duboys
Julie Wilkinson
Translation and other services
Julie Wilkinson offers a range of translation and support services for foreign residents. This former university academic with a background in banking, computing and languages moved to Cañada del Real Tesoro (Estación de Cortes de la Frontera) in 2018, although she has owned a house there for 17 years.
Julie was attracted to the area by its history: “I was studying at Complutense University and wanted to know more about the history of the Moors, of the occupation. I also really like the interior, because I do not want be in a touristy area, I wanted to get to know the authentic Andalucía and especially Ronda as a historic centre”.
Although the beginning of the pandemic was difficult for Julie, as she lived alone, she took advantage of the confinement to run errands for her neighbours and friends, and thus managed to feel useful and maintain her social life.
This led to the idea of offering her Spanish skills as a way of topping up her income. Contact Julie for information on 744 606 503.
Paul Whitelock has offered similar services in the past, but now prefers more physical pursuits such as DIY and gardening. However, occasionally he is happy to help out if he can. Strangers have to pay a little; friends and acquaintances pay in kind or not at all! See Working for Free.
Paul can be contacted at [email protected] or via WhatsApp: 636 52 75 16
Note: You can now view the whole Charry TV documentary, La Serranía de Ronda: un rincón con encanto para quedarse on YouTube.
