As life in the UK gets darker and colder, it’s no surprise that many Brits start dreaming of living abroad, on a picturesque island with beaches only minutes away and far hotter and longer summers. Mandy Green and her then-husband Mark were some of these people, having fallen in love with the Spanish island of Majorca.
Ditching their life in Dunfermline, Fife, in 2001, the pair ended up spending 17 years in Majorca. “I miss so much about living there, from the fresh fruit still on sale at this time of the year to being able to walk barefoot on the beach,” Mandy, 61, said. Spain and its islands have become popular choices for expats, boasting a slower pace of life and, generally, lower property prices and daily costs. Official Spanish government statistics suggest that last year there were 275,000 UK nationals living legally in Spain, but the real figures are thought to be much higher. However, the now-divorced mum-of-two returned to Scotland six years ago and lives alone. She also admitted that there are some cons to the expat life, which she definitely does not miss. Her ex-husband has since set up home with a local Spanish woman.
Mandy and Mark had been married for 12 years and lived a happy life in Fife. Mark worked as a chef and Mandy was a hotel manager when they decided to move to Spain, confident they could transfer their knowledge of hospitality into a business venture. They opened a restaurant, M&M’s, in the beachside resort of Santa Ponsa. However, it proved to be a never-ending money pit, and it took a toll on their marriage.
“We’d only been on holiday in Majorca twice, but we were smitten with the Spanish way of life,” Mandy told MailOnline. “We did all the right things, using a well-known estate agent and a reputable accountant, but no one sat us down and told us about the taxes and bills you had to pay. We’d get hit with out-of-the-blue tax bills.”
They also struggled to find affordable housing, especially considering they were British and trying to live in a tourist town where so many lettings were reserved for holidaymakers. Estate agents appeared to assume that, as they were British, they had plenty of money to spend.
Mandy claimed that the landlord increased the rent as soon as they realised the couple were Brits.
Running their business was not much easier: “I didn’t speak any Spanish beforehand. What we couldn’t get our head around was the amount of money we had to fork out each month,” she added.
“We’d been in our restaurant for a month when our accountant presented us with a tax bill for €300 (£260). It totally took us by surprise as we had no idea what it was for and it wasn’t something we’d been told to budget for.”
There were many other aspects that took the pair by surprise, including fluctuations in food supply prices and constant unexpected tax bills and Mandy said she wishes she had spoken to other business owners first.
Mandy and Mark’s son and daughter, aged 15 and 16 when they first moved, both left Majorca, moving back to Scotland and Ireland, respectively. Three years after their children left, the couple admitted they were exhausted and sold their restaurant.
They split in 2016 and Mark is now with a woman from Majorca. Mandy returned to Scotland in 2019 and has lived there ever since.
