Autumn Sunshine Activity Holidays

Autumn Sunshine Activity Holidays! The heat of summer may be over, but the weather continues to be beautiful, with lots of sunshine and very mild temperatures. It is at this time of year – and also of course in the spring – when there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy all the other delights of this part of the Costa Blanca than just the summer seaside attractions. Lucy and Ashley recently returned to us for their third visit, and they take great pleasure in participating in outdoor pastimes and sports – something which this area of the Costa Blanca offers the fringe season visitor in abundance. They stayed with us for just over a week in our self-catering apartment and made the most of their time getting out and about doing lots of different activities as well as some conventional sightseeing in Valencia city itself. Because temperatures have remained so mild, it is still very pleasant to swim in the sea so Lucy & Ashley decided one day to combine two of their interests into one all-day experience. They had made arrangements to go horse riding at stables near the beach, and so went for an escorted ride along the…

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Casa Rural 2014 Summer of Diversity

Pet Friendly Accommodation

Casa Rural 2014 Summer of Diversity 2014 has been a long and busy season for us at Villa Florencia Casa Rural, with a wide variety of guests from countries all over Europe and beyond. We were happy to welcome so many new visitors, but delighted that a large number of guests returned to us who had been here before. Not only has our Bed and Breakfast accommodation been as popular as ever, but bookings for our self-catering apartment have been at a very high level, with guests checking in there almost continuously throughout the year. The first bookings of 2014 were for visitors coming for the attractions and activities that are best enjoyed in this part of the Costa Blanca in the cooler months of the year – hillwalking, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc. In addition, “Las Fallas” is the first annual fiesta in the local calendar, and this year we had guests visit us especially for the celebrations. They had been to the area before and enjoyed the fiesta in previous years, but this was the first time they had stayed with us – and they clearly enjoyed the experience as they have already booked again for 2015! More…

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Pet Friendly Gandia

Pet Friendly Holidays! We received a phone call just over a week ago enquiring if we had availability for a couple from Madrid, along with their 7 month old Springer Spaniel called Trufi, who they had recently adopted from a rescue centre. We did have space for the weekend, and so were happy to take their booking and looked forward to their arrival on Saturday. Their booking was for 3 nights – Saturday, Sunday & Monday – and part of their reason for coming to our part of the Costa Blanca is the fact that Gandia now has a section of beach which is designated for use by owners and their pets, called “Playa Can”. It is fairly unusual to find pet friendly facilities on the Costa Blanca – either in accommodation or an area of beach – so Agustin and his girlfriend were delighted to find that they could enjoy both with us. They arrived in the late morning of Saturday and as soon as they had put their cases in their room, they headed straight off to the pet friendly beach. They stayed there for the rest of the day, only returning to us in the early evening,…

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Family Friendly Holidays in Spain

Family Friendly Holidays in Spain We received an enquiry from Karin and her family last year, asking about the possibility of visiting us last October. However, due to family circumstances they were not able to make the trip so we were delighted when they contacted us again early this year with a view to visiting us in June. Karin, Rogier and their eighteen month old daughter Maite arrived from Holland in the late afternoon and were happy to take advantage of our evening meal service that night even though they were renting our self-catering apartment – there was no need to rush out to the shops straightaway! They soon settled in to the apartment, and found it suited their needs perfectly. They were staying with us for twelve days so were glad of the extra space, as well as the cot and high chair for Maite, of course! They became firm friends with our dogs and cats and Maite especially loved playing with them around the pool. Most days they would spend some time in the gardens and pool, although Maite was not an enthusiastic water baby to begin with! However, by the end of their stay she had become…

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Gandia Las Fallas 2014

Guests for “Fallas Fortnight”! Quite a few months ago we received a booking from Sandy and David who wanted to stay in our self-catering apartment for nearly a fortnight, to coincide with the local fiesta of Gandia Las Fallas 2014. Las Fallas is the famous Valencian fiesta which sees enormous satirical effigies constructed in each town (or in each area of larger towns). These are then judged on their merits and finally burned to the ground on the night of March 19th – St Joseph’s Day, the patron saint of carpenters. In the run-up to March 19th there are daily parades with marching bands and local ladies and young girls bedecked in the most elaborate of traditional dress. Sandy and David are very keen on the whole tradition of the Fallas fiestas and have been coming to the Valencian region to view the spectacle for a number of years. However, this was the first time they had decided to spend their time in Spain with us and we were delighted to welcome them and show them to the self-catering apartment that would be their home for the next two weeks. They were of course very familiar with the area already…

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Spring Spanish Property Hunters

Spain or France for Property? We have recently been aware that more guests have been visiting us for the purpose of looking for a Spanish property on the northern Costa Blanca. Spanish property prices are now at a very realistic level compared to many other places in Europe (northern Europe especially), and this has been reflected in a gradual increase in the number of property hunters – once an almost extinct breed! Colin and Helen arrived to stay with us on one of our Property Hunters Packages, and booked with us for five nights recently. They are very taken with the idea of a home for their retirement and would love to find somewhere that offers a good and healthy lifestyle, reasonable living costs, and of course better weather. They have been turning the idea over in their minds for some time, and are torn between either France or Spain for this big life changing decision, so this trip was very much a preliminary reconnoitre – basically to see what this part of the country is like and whether it is somewhere they could add to their list. They had not contacted any property agents, but rather wanted to get…

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