BRITS make up two-thirds of holiday home buyers in the verdant northern region of Cantabria, knowing they can lay their hands on excellent deals and a way of life that differs vastly from that seen on the Spanish Costas.
Rolling green hills, dairy cattle, central European-style chalets in gardens with lawns and hedges, clean and attractive towns and cities, picture-postcard villages and dramatic countryside for walking, cycling or riding horses mean Cantabria often appears at first glance to resemble Switzerland, France or Germany rather than Spain as many Brits know it – and, in fact, quite a lot like the more attractive and less agricultural rural parts of the UK and Ireland.
Perhaps a feeling of 'home from home' – seeing grazing cows and emerald hills may be less of a culture shock than palm trees and pine-covered rocky mountains, although the 1,000-metre-high Picos de Europa range adds a more exotic feel – or perhaps the fact it has not been invaded by mass beach tourism is some of the pull of Cantabria for British buyers.
Or perhaps it's the fact you can buy apartments with two to four bedrooms in the stunning Victorian-style seaside city of Santander for as little as €58,000, or a comfortable-sized villa with a plot size of over 1,000 square metres for between €115,000 and €150,000, making a home in Cantabria an excellent investment for the future as well as a more affordable holiday destination than the tourism belts.
Whilst the Costas are blessed with sun-drenched, idyllic golden beaches, superb tourist facilities, over 300 days a year of bright sunshine and a guaranteed three- to four-month summer, as well as a more exotic, holiday feel and winters where you can sit in a pavement café with a coat on and not suffer as you would doing the same in the UK, Cantabria is a perfect option for those who are not so fussed on sweltering heat and in-the-shade temperatures soaring to 35ºC in July and August.
If you don't mind a bit of rain and cooler winters – which are still warmer than in Britain and with more hours of daylight, given that it does not get dark until nearly 18.30hrs even on the shortest day – you'll be rewarded with a much more temperate summer but with less unpredictability in the weather than in the UK.
In a nutshell, you can plan a barbecue a few weeks in advance without having to make contingency plans for moving the whole ensemble to the kitchen grill, but you won't be dripping uncomfortably in suffocating humidity, either.
And you still won't have to sacrifice beach life – Santander has been compared to Brighton (East Sussex) because of the style of its seafront buildings, and this is largely because wealthy British visitors in Queen Victoria's time were borne in mind when designing homes and hotels.
Unlike Brighton, however, you won't have to lay on stones, because the 250-kilometre stretch of sand is as soft and golden as it is on the Med.
Cantabria sits – funnily enough – on the Cantabrian Sea, which is on the eastern edge of the Atlantic, meaning great wind-surfing and kite-surfing conditions.
Riding and walking country is excellent, and ski resorts are a short drive away.
Given its coastal location, fish is a staple part of the diet – bonito, a type of white tuna, is commonly served up in restaurants or sold in supermarkets or harbour stalls, and is full of flavour and versatile for cooking with.
Traditional cakes and confectionery include sobaos, corbatas and quesadas.
Fun attractions in Cantabria include the prehistoric-style Cabárceno safari park, where animals roam freely in huge, open spaces; the decorative towns of Santillana del Mar, Potes and Comillas, among others; the Picos de Europa, and the restaurant in Comillas designed by Gaudí, the flamboyant architect who was the brains behind the highly-colourful Güell park and the striking Sagrada Família cathedral in Barcelona.
Despite its rural charms, Cantabria is well-connected with good roads, including motorways both within towns and between other regions, and low-cost carriers fly into Santander airport from the UK.
For those who are not keen on flying and have previously ruled out a holiday home in Spain because the long drive through France does not appeal, Cantabria's piéce de résistance is the frequent ferry connection between Santander and the southern UK cities of Portsmouth and Plymouth.
The journey takes just 24 hours, and enables you to bring your car and also your pets as long as they have the requisite passport, which any good vet will be able to assist with in both countries.
Once off the ferry, anywhere in Cantabria is less than an hour by road.
Popular though the Costas are – and they continue to ooze with bargains – Cantabria is cheaper still and boasts a very different type of charm, showing Spain really is a huge melting pot of scenery, culture, weather and people.
Clichéd though it sounds, the polar opposites of Cantabria versus the Costas show Spain really does have something and somewhere to suit any homebuyer's tastes, whether they end up in Torremolinos, Torrevieja or Torrelavega.
