Property for sale in Pego

Buying a house in Pego means buying in a village in the north of the Marina Alta, right against the province of Valencia and not on the sea. The municipality has three clearly different parts. All around stands a horseshoe of mountains, with the Segària and the Serra del Cavall. Below lies a flat foothill strip with orange groves, and towards the coast the marsh of the Marjal de Pego-Oliva, a natural park where rice is grown. Springs such as the Bullent and the Racons feed that marsh. The village itself is an ordinary Spanish village with a life of its own.

In the village you live on flat to gently sloping ground, with a supermarket, the primary school and the health centre within walking distance. On the north slope of the Segària lies Monte Pego, a villa development with views over the marsh and sometimes the sea. That development is not only in Pego: it is spread across Pego, Dénia and el Ràfol d'Almúnia. On the plain around the village, rural houses stand among the groves. Nobody lives in the marsh itself, the natural park.

In the village you buy a village house or a flat. In Monte Pego it is villas and building plots on the slope, some with sea views; check on the paperwork whether the home falls under Pego, Dénia or el Ràfol d'Almúnia, as that decides the town hall, local charges and plan. On the plain you buy a rural house with land. Have an adviser check what is licensed there, as the council has turned part of the land zoned for building back into rural land. A large plan for a golf course with homes next to the natural park has also been stalled for years.

Pego suits people who want to live in a Spanish village with its own services, with a secondary school up to final exams, a health centre and the beaches of Oliva and Dénia close by. Birdwatchers and walkers do well here too, with the marsh and the mountains around the village. It suits those who want to walk to the beach less well. If you buy in Monte Pego, ask who maintains the roads, sewers and street lighting: a few years ago parts of the development had not yet been taken over by the councils. In heavy rain, a lot of water falls here in a short time.

Alicante airport is a little over an hour by car, and Valencia is the alternative. You reach the AP-7 at Oliva or at Ondara, and the CV-700 runs to El Verger. There is no train; the nearest station is Gandía. The public hospital is in Dénia. The secondary school in the village has an upper school and vocational courses, with a branch in Orba; British schools are on the coast, in Jávea and Benitachell. For golf there is Oliva Nova or La Sella. Read more about the coast on the Costa Blanca North page.