Real Life Story - The Gibson Family
The Gibson family moved from Sussex in January 2008 to start a new life in Tenerife. Mark and Sarah were fed up and dis-illusioned with life in the UK, and decided that moving to Tenerife with their two children was the thing to do.
“We don’t see ourselves ever returning to Britain. This is where we want to spend the rest of our lives. It was Mark who first discovered the island, back in 1989. He was soon smitten by its charm and returned regularly on holiday. When we decided to get married, he told me that we’d have to live on Tenerife; he was passionate about the place and it didn’t take long for me to realise why.
After holidaying here myself, I knew I could settle here, too, so we sold our apartment in Haywards Heath, packed our belongings into a Land Rover and trailer and spent a couple of weeks driving down through Europe.
Originally, we intended to buy land and build our own property, so we rented an apartment in the old part of Adeje while we took our time finding the right place. When soon stumbled across this property it felt like home immediately despite having no electricity, water, bathroom or windows and a sagging roof.
It needs a lot of work, but we can see the potential, so bought it last year for 144,000 Euros. It will take a long time to fix up because Mark will do most of it himself, but we’re very happy with that.
Our children have settled well and are managing to pick up the language much easier than us. They have new friends and are involved in so many activities.
For anyone considering buying here, they’ve got to love the place and want to live here because it’s Tenerife, not just because it’s hot. The way of life is different than the UK – and it’s not the Costa del Sol, either. Tenerife feels like it’s in a time warp and if you come over with a staunch British attitude that everything should be efficient, the place will drive you nuts."