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Tenerife Property

What to do? We asked three Tenerife residents to come to the Costa Adeje Gran Hotel,
share some wine and tell us how they spend their leisure time.

Lynne Leadbetter, 39, Sales director, The Property Gallery
Originally from Derby, moved to Tenerife 12 years ago leaving a career as a licensee. Lives in San Eugenio Alto with husband Steve and 10-year-old son Lewis.

Cheryl Spenceley, 47, Mural artist and decorator, Grand Illusions
Originally from Sheffield, moved to Tenerife 11 years ago leaving a career in advertising and design. Lives in Arona with partner Paul.

Mandy Klijnsma, 29, Secretary, Marcos Cabrera
Originally from the Netherlands, moved to Tenerife four years ago leaving a job as an optical assistant. Lives in Buzanada with partner Antonio.

How do you normally spend your weekends?

Mandy: Sleeping!

All: (laughter)

Cheryl: Well, on Saturdays, if I’m lucky and don’t have to work, I’ll just potter about the house. I have birds that need feeding and dogs too. We go for a little ramble in the fields behind us. Then on Sunday mornings we go to the car boot sale – it’s a lovely social event (laughs).

Lynne: Which one do you go to? San Juan?

Cheryl: No, Guaza. Also, because we live in Arona, Vilaflor is just up the road. There’s a picnic area there that’s quite nice. We’re usually quite lazy about food but when you go there are these huge Spanish families that cook a massive amount of food and just bring it to you. You can go there with just a few sausages and they’ll feed you quite happily.

Mandy: I went there one weekend in January and it was quite cold and even raining a little but we still had to run to find a table.

Cheryl: Oh, I know. Well, when we went up to Teide to see the snow, there must have been a queue around two mountains, an hour and a half worth of queuing. We just got to the base and had a snowball fight and that was enough for me.

Lynne: We go to La Gomera sometimes on the weekend. I love Valle Gran Rey. It’s a total switch off and so cheap.

Cheryl: I also go to the theatre and cinema and I tend to go out to restaurants quite a lot.

Lynne: Which is your favourite?

Cheryl: My favourite, which my boyfriend objects to because it’s too far to drive, is The Orange Room in Playa Paraiso.

Lynne: Oh, I’ve never been there.

Cheryl: It’s French, absolutely gorgeous.

Lynne: I like Chez Bebert.

Cheryl: Oh I love that place, I went there for my birthday.

Mandy: My favourite restaurant is Las Goteras, a Canarian restaurant in Tejina.

Cheryl: That’s very far. Do you live at that end?

Mandy: No, we live in Buzanada but we go all the way there because it does the best food. It has very good Spanish/Canarian meat and it’s always busy. We try different restaurants all the time but we always go back there.

If someone who had never been to the island before was visiting for a few days, how would you recommend they spend their time?

Mandy: Go to Masca.

Lynne: Yes, Masca’s one of my favourite places as well.

Mandy: I think it’s great to go to Masca, walk down the valley and then take the boat to Los Cristianos and see the dolphins.

Lynne: Yes, you need to see the dolphins while you’re here.

Cheryl: Although, I have to mention that I took my family on a five-hour trip and there were people being ill, people falling asleep (laughs). I think that if you just do a two- or three-hour trip and the weather is really nice, it’s beautiful.

Is Tenerife a good place to live if you’re a sporty person?

Mandy: It’s strange being in an aerobics class where it’s all in Spanish. In Holland it was always in English, because the names of the steps are English.

Lynne: It’s good for me though when I do yoga. It’s good for my Spanish.

Cheryl: I suppose it’s more difficult with yoga.

Lynne: Yes. It’s all about your breathing. You need to understand it fully to do it correctly.

Lynne: What sports do you miss from back home (to Mandy)?

Mandy: I miss cycling. In Holland you go everywhere by bicycle. It’s not like doing a sport. I used to go to work on my bicycle, to the shops…

Cheryl: In a town like that, where everyone is on a bicycle, everyone develops a sixth sense as to where the next person on a bicycle is. They’re a lot more aware, even people in cars.

Lynne: Would you be brave enough to ride your bicycle here?

Mandy: No, I wouldn’t have a bicycle here because of the hills and the cars.

Lynne: Do you do any sports here?

Mandy: I did a lot of sports when I was in Holland. My weekends were for sports.

Lynne: What sort of sports?

Mandy: Rollerblading. We had a group of people who would always meet on Sundays. Before that I did Kung Fu and Aerobics, but I don’t really do sports anymore.

Cheryl: I suppose I was sportier in England too. I think there’s more of an inclination to be sporty. Your workmates go to aerobics or to some other class and it’s a social thing, whereas here I find it’s more of an obligation. If you want to be healthy or keep your weight down, you do it, it’s not such a social thing.

Mandy: It was the same in Holland. We would all go to the bar and have a drink afterwards. It was good because you felt as though you’d missed out if you didn’t go.

Do you watch Spanish or English TV?

Mandy: Spanish. I don’t watch Dutch TV.

Lynne: You don’t miss it?

Mandy: No.

Cheryl: Is there not a Dutch channel on Via Digital (Spanish satellite)

Mandy: I don’t know. I thought about getting it but then I decided not to because I already spend too much time flopped on the sofa after work and on the weekend. If I had my Dutch television, I wouldn’t ever go out anymore.

Cheryl: We have English TV because my boyfriend is a football fanatic. On Saturday and Sunday he has the TV to himself.

Lynne: I have to say that I miss Eastenders and Coronation Street. It’s really sad. I never thought I’d admit to that, but I do. And I like to get the news. I like to keep up with people back home, keep up with what series they’re watching.

Since English newspapers and magazines are a lot more expensive here, do you read them a lot less frequently since moving here?

Cheryl: I read them if I can get them brought over from England because they’re half the price. They’re so expensive here.

Lynne: Yes, they are.

Cheryl: I have to have Marie Claire.

Lynne: I have to have Top Sante brought out every month.

Cheryl: Oh, and I have to have my Sunday papers and my comics. If I’ve got one day to relax then I lie down on the sofa and get the Sundays out and spend two or three hours browsing. I really enjoy it.

Where do you normally spend your holidays?

Mandy: It’s usually a family visit. This year we’re going to Holland but I want to fly to Germany first - I have some friends there – then hire a car and drive to Holland.

Cheryl: The last holiday we went on was to Burma, because I’ve got family there. It was wonderful.

Lynne: I think you tend to do that here. You get very family-orientated.

Cheryl: Yes. What I find is that, though I love Spain, I want to go somewhere completely different. But, yes, I tend to go back and see the family.

Lynne: I do the same. I used to feel guilty about going on holiday and not visiting the family, but not anymore. I found the solution this year. Usually I go back and see my Dad, my Step Mum and my friends, but this year I thought, I’ve cracked it! I’m going to pay for them to go on an island cruise. A group of us went and it was absolutely fantastic. We left Santa Cruz and went to Madeira, Morocco, Gran Canaria and La Palma.

Cheryl: How long were you there?

Lynne: Seven days, all-inclusive. I treated my family. It was a Christmas present. I must say that it’s the most relaxing holiday I’ve ever had.

How could the leisure facilities or social scene be improved? What’s missing?

Cheryl: You know, the one thing I’m waiting for is a drive-in cinema. You could have headphones or something so that you can choose different languages and have girls on roller-skates serving burgers! We definitely have the climate for it.

This article has been supplied by kind permission of Living Tenerife Magazine. Read more articles like this on Island Life, Golf and Property Tenerife.

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