Where are all the Brits?

For more than three millennia, Spain has been constantly invaded by settlers of all nationalities, so its cosmopolitan nature is nothing newsworthy. However, it may come as a surprise to find out where us foreigners actually live.

In Asturias, you are classed as a foreigner if you were born in Madrid, but those of us living in the Comunidad Valenciana are used to hearing a variety of languages and seeing faces from all five continents pass us in the street.

Except in many of the tiny, inland villages, of course. In the remote La Safor locality of La Font d’en Carròs, those not born in its windy, narrow streets are known as 'forasteros' (outsiders), whilst people from beyond La Safor are referred to as 'castellans'. This will even apply if you are Lithuanian.

Yet the trend is changing, according to recent studies. In larger towns in the Valencia province such as Oliva, Alzira and Gandia, the population of forasteros makes up at least ten per cent, although the number of northern Europeans is not high. The most commonly-seen are Latin Americans, Moroccans and Romanians.

Deep inland in the south-west of the Valencia province, in a district known as La Canal de Navarrés – comprising the villages of Anna, Bicorp, Bolbaite, Chella, Enguera, Millares, Navarrés and Quesa – a whopping 70 per cent of inhabitants are Bulgarian.

Further north in the province of Castellón, the districts bordering Cataluña – L’Alt Maestrat and Els Ports – are Romanian colonies (70 and 80 per cent of the population respectively) and most people living in the nearby Baix Maestrat area are Moroccan.The most surprising information to come to light, though, is where those migrating from the UK have chosen to settle.

Brits  and where to find them
Traditionally, Spanish people keen to practice their English would hunt us out in the Vega Baixa, Marina Baixa and Marina Alta. Coastal towns such as Torrevieja, Benidorm, Altea, Calpe and Jávea have been a Mecca for folk fleeing the land of Marmite and miserable weather for 20 or 30 years and the trend shows no signs of changing. Nearly a third of inhabitants in these areas are people who have turned their backs on Typhoo and Tony Blair to embrace the Fallas and fideuà.

Yet the area with the highest ratio of Brits to any other nationality – Spanish included – is the little-known Valle de Ayora-Cofrentes (photo). Almost on the border of the Albacete province in neighbouring Castilla-La Mancha, so deep inland it takes half a day by minor roads to reach, UK citizens make up 60 per cent of residents in villages such as Jalance, Jarafuel, Cortés de Pallas and Zarra.

Over a hundred kilometres inland of Valencia city, this sparsely-populated area’s steppe-like landscape, flanked by five majestic, imposing mountain ranges of between 600 and 1,000 metres high and crossed by three rivers has more open countryside than almost anywhere else in the province.

Its seven municipalities have a headcount of between 470 and 1,000 each - the district capital, Ayora, is a booming metropolis in comparison with an overwhelming 5,500 inhabitants. Most live off the land or the textile trade, although a few casas rurales and small country restaurants ensure visitors seeking to escape civilisation – or travellers who have become hopelessly lost – have a bed for the night and food on the table.

This said, the local councils in the area are keen to promote the Valle de Ayora-Cofrentes as an idyllic location for rural tourism; which, in fact, it is. With its wetlands, castles, the San Benito lagoon in Ayora, the eerie-sounding Cueva Negra, the La Hunde nature reserve and the ruins of the Castellar de la Meca (an Iberian fortress dating back to the fourth century B.C.), its sightseeing opportunities