My second home in Spain is too hot to use - I can't visit in summer anymore

Rising temperatures in southern Europe are forcing many Brits with holiday homes to rethink their summer plans. Andrew Taylor, 61 , a care company owner from Liverpool who owns a villa in Alicante, Spain and a townhouse in Cianciana, Sicily, tells Silvia Marchetti how it is affecting him.

I should already have been in Europe by now, as I come and go often to visit my holiday homes – but this summer it’s just too hot. I never thought it could get so hot in June in Spain – usually, at this time of year it’s in the 20°Cs. The heatwave is forcing me to delay – I won’t go until September. 

I bought my first holiday home in Spain in 1999, and have since owned and sold five homes in Cabo Roig, in the province of Alicante. My current house, purchased last year for €276,000, is a three-bedroom seafront villa with a pool and roof terrace.

Three families reflect on the early signs of the illness, which affected their parents.

They include the things they missed or dismissed, what they’d do differently and what they’d want other people in the same position to know.

One of the first incidents that rang alarm bells for Robert was his mum falling victim to a suspected scam from someone selling mattresses door-to-door. 

She also started to struggle with cooking and making her special dishes she’d been making for decades without a problem.

We [had] just sort of played along with everything. But on one particularly bad day, I blurted it out over the phone, ‘Because you’ve got dementia, mum!’ She threatened to kill herself, which was very scary. Maybe it’s something I should have explained properly to her from the get go…

I think we missed some of the really early subtle signs.

Rosie’s mother was diagnosed with Young Onset Alzheimer’s Disease at 58 but some symptoms, like brain fog, were put down to the menopause.

She had become more forgetful, and was repeating herself, but as she had always “been scatty” it was dismissed.

It was on strange things like going to the same buffet.

Chloe was just 14 when her mum, Sarah, was diagnosed with young onset frontotemporal dementia, a rare form of the disease.

Another time Sarah, who was diagnosed in her forties, forgot how to boil an egg.

On Saturdays, when she’d usually go shopping, she’d go out and come straight back home, almost like she forgetting
what she was going out for.

Writer Sadhbh O’Sullivan looked into her own forgotten subscriptions when she became a first-time buyer, and realised how much she was wasting on things she wasn’t using.

I’d long considered myself to be quite a reasonable spender. 

But the hidden costs across her bank accounts, like free trials that hadn’t been cancelled and memberships for abandoned services, proved otherwise.

It was full of small amounts, £2.99 here, £4.50 there. These small amounts added up.

According to a Nationwide survey almost one in five Brits don’t use every platform they pay for.

The bank suggests they could save as much as £400 a year by ditching them. 

National Trading Standards’ 2025 research found 4.7 million people were paying for subscriptions they didn’t know they’d signed up for.

In 2024, a government report found unused and unwanted subscriptions cost consumers up to £1.6bn a year.

Hunt them down

Banking apps usually list your ‘subscriptions’ separately from direct debits and standing orders so you can easily spot what you’re shelling out on.

Check everything

You can be debited through credit cards, E-payment services, your mobile phone bill, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Don’t vow to use a subscription you’re not going to, even if you
have good intentions.

Many businesses have changed from monthly to annual payments so look further back.

Make sure to track any subscriptions you have kept so you can cancel them, if need be, in future.

But staff say many people treat their shops like a tip.

Here they share the most useful donations they get, and the
ones that drive them mad.

The quality of donations over the last year has diminished.

Claire Stockman, head of retail for St
Luke’s Hospice [pictured], says many donations include used items from fast fashion like Boohoo and Primark, which they cannot sell for more than £2, if at all.

of what comes into St Luke’s Hospice is unsellable, Stockman says.

She adds its soiled, damaged beyond
repair or smelly.

Harriet, a volunteer at Crisis in Dalston,
says people bring in clothes that are dirty and stained – things that they cannot sell
on Vinted.

She also sees dirty kitchenware and technology that no longer works.

There was a box donated after someone’s family had passed and in it were all these medals. I researched them and the whole collection ended up going for £2,340…

A good donation is anything new with tags on, anything that hasn’t been opened, or higher quality items.

Items that have been well looked after are more likely to sell and generate a better price for charity too.

Harriet adds that knick-knacks and wine glasses are surprise hits in her branch.

Here, psychologists, career consultants and sleep experts give their best advice on how
to beat the gloom that the
work week is looming…

Pave the way on Friday

Psychologist Maria-Teresa Daher-Cusack says to wrap up tasks and not to leave big or difficult things for Monday. And write a to-do list for the next week so you know what to expect when you return after the weekend.

Get outside early

Doctor Naheed Ali says getting out on a Sunday morning – not sleeping late – helps regulate the circadian rhythm that can become skewed over the weekend.

On Sunday spend time away from technology to allow yourself a personal reset away from doom scrolling.

Put yourself in the best position to rest by avoiding large meals, screens and caffeine.

If possible don’t stack your Mondays with high-pressure tasks.

Don’t just save joyful things for the weekend. On lunch breaks, try to do something you enjoy.

If the Sunday scaries are constant, listen to them. If every Sunday fills you with dread and nothing seems to quell it it’s worth asking if it’s the job, the culture or the career itself. No one should spend half their weekend bracing for impact… ” says Victoria McLean

But no country’s energy system is 100 per cent secure and large-scale blackouts, although rare, are possible.

Here’s how to prepare, and what could happen, if we do have a blackout.

If the UK’s power went down tomorrow, these are the ways it is likely to impact you first.

For EV owners that are already on the road, Professor Keith Bell, who works in electricity planning, recommends that those with an EV with reasonable charge use it as a generator, like your own store of electricity.

In the case of the power system going down, petrol isn’t a totally safe option as queues at petrol stations could be huge and places are likely to run out of fuel.

The longer the power takes to return the worse things are likely to get. In 2021 Storm Arwen physically damaged power lines across the UK.

During the 1977 New York blackout, which lasted 25 hours, there was civil unrest, resulting in widespread looting and arson, although intense heatwaves are thought to have exacerbated the situation.

To get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, but in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.

A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended.

The Government recommends opting for torches over candles, for safety reasons.

Using screens in a way that benefits your child’s development is key and balancing educational content and entertainment with offline activities ensures a well-rounded routine.

For younger children, try scavenger hunts, garden games and nature walks. For older ones, hikes
and biking trips.

Designated screen-free times helps children develop a routine that balances screen use with other activities.

It’s an excellent way
to bond and develop critical thinking skills.

Getting creative, through drawing, painting or model construction, enhances cognitive skills and offers an alternative to screens.

Arrange playdates or group activities with friends, or for older kids try an overnight camping trip in the garden.

Showing that you value offline time encourages your children to do the same.

Implement a reward system where screen time is earned through positive behaviour. 

Discuss the importance of balancing screen time with your children so they understand the reasons behind the rules.

Some studies suggest so.

These are the eight brain-boosting foods registered dietitian Fareeha Jay
recommends people consume as part of a weekly diet…

They contain several nutrients thought to support brain health, including choline, vitamin B12 and iodine.

Caffeine can reduce inflammation and
slow the degeneration
of brain cells.

It’s packed with antioxidants and high in vitamin K, which is essentially for healthy brain cells.

Your brain uses Omega-3s to build brain and nerve cells – so a diet rich in them may slow age-related mental decline.

These improve heart health markers, which is linked to a lower risk of neurological disorders.

They contain compounds which have been shown to improve blood flow to the brain, cognitive function, and memory.

There’s this assumption about being put out to pasture… but now that we’re living and working longer, we have to challenge myths around ageing and remember that over-50s are a crucial part of the workforce…

Yet more than a third of those between 50 and 69 believe that their age puts them at a disadvantage when they apply for jobs. 

The Age Without Limits study from 2024 shows that 37 per cent of workers between 51 to 70 felt badly treated in work because of their age.

We need the same level of career planning in
our fifties as our twenties. It’s possible to reinvent yourself again.

It’s nonsense that older people can’t pick up how to use new tech.

Do you need a pay rise? Could you trade some of that money you earn, to work a bit less, and do more things you enjoy?

Become full-time childcare

Grandparenting on the horizon? If you don’t want to do childcare, have the conversation early – even before a child becomes pregnant – that you plan to continue working and love your job.

Accept redundancy too quickly

It’s going to be so much harder to get back into work if you don’t have a plan before you take that leap.

Everybody thinks early retirement is the dream but the reality can be different. There can be loneliness, lack of purpose and a sense of invisibility. 

My one-bedroom home in Cianciana, rural Sicily – bought in 2014 for £40,000 – is simpler and located in the village’s old district with a panoramic roof terrace. I visit Alicante about six times per year, for beach and sunshine. Sicily – which I love for culture and tradition – a bit less.

I never gave much thought to the risk of rising temperatures when I was younger, but now my perspective has changed. There have always been moments when it’s been insanely hot in Spain, but it’s now difficult to refute the evidence that the planet is getting warmer. Back in the noughties, the heat was still somewhat bearable in Spain. In summer, it never reached more than 30°C, but last year it was shockingly stifling along Alicante’s coast, peaking at 40°C in July. In that kind of heat you can’t function, mentally nor physically. All of Spain has gotten hotter, with Madrid now often touching 45°C during heat peaks.

I struggle to cope with the heat as I get older. Today, I find anything over 30°C to be too much really to bear. After all, I’m British – if you’re an Italian, Spaniard or Greek who was born and brought up in such an environment, then you’re more acclimatised to it.

So, the hot summers are limiting when I can use my holiday homes. Last summer, in Alicante, I found it incredibly difficult to do anything at all during the day. I would go out at 7am in the morning to avoid the sultry hours, then go back home at 9am and have lunch with friends or just sit around till 7.30pm, when the heat slightly abated and I could go out again. I avoided peak hours of direct sun, I couldn’t sleep well and enjoyed dozing off in a post-lunch siesta like the Spanish do.

All you can do during the day is try to stay out of the sun, in air-con. Or in an ideal scenario, spend the day in the sea, on the shallows.

So, I’ve decided to write-off going to Spain in July and August. You spend over the odds to travel because of the cost of a plane ticket during the UK school holidays, and then when you’re there you spend the whole day trying to stay out of the sun and heat. I feel frustrated, but it is even harder for families. I see them on the beach, running across the sand to stop their feet getting burnt.

Last summer, it also was hot in September in Alicante, so I started thinking that perhaps there was no point anymore in paying to get on a plane to fly to a burning hell. But I love the place and have made nice friends – I would never abandon it. Ultimately, I don’t regret buying the homes, and am not considering selling right now.

While Cianciana is on the same latitude as Alicante, it’s warmer in winter and hotter in summer. I was there one year when temperatures hit 45°C. Even the locals, accustomed to heatwaves, complained they couldn’t cope with it.

Now, though, even the UK is getting too hot. I’ve been holidaying in Jersey this week, and it’s been 36°C. I’ve used the same habits I do in Spain – only going out in the early morning and at night. I decided to visit the Jersey war tunnels, to avoid the heat in a cool underground spot.

We don’t have air-con here, of course. When I return home from the shops I’m soaking wet from sweating. I struggle to sleep, and take a siesta just like in Spain. I guess the Mediterranean climate has invaded the UK.