Silvia Marchetti

After suffering severe burnout while working long hours in finance, Nikki Taylor left her career in 2014 and moved from the UK and Australia to Italy. She eventually settled in Martina Franca, Puglia, where she owns a villa, works as a property consultant and lives with her partner. She says the region’s slower pace, lower costs, stronger social connections and more active lifestyle have significantly improved her mental and physical health, while self-employment has given her greater fulfillment and control over her time.

Wildfires in Spain and France are prompting several British second-home owners to sell or reconsider properties because of fears that fires, extreme heat and smoke could destroy their homes or make them unsafe. Owners in Almeria, Valencia and near Bordeaux describe evacuations, poor air quality and anxiety over future disasters. The fires are also hurting tourism and influencing where British people choose to relocate, while some business owners argue that media coverage is exaggerating the risks across Spain and contributing to cancelled bookings.

British expats and tourists describe smoke-filled skies, evacuations and chaotic escapes as wildfires devastate parts of France and Spain. Around 250,000 people were evacuated in south-west France, including more than 50,000 from the Cap Ferret area, while fires also affected regions around Madrid and Ávila in Spain and Calabria and Sicily in Italy. The UK government advised travellers to follow local authorities and Foreign Office guidance. A travel insurance expert warned that wildfire coverage varies by policy, while a Sicilian ecologist attributed the worsening fires to extreme heat, climate change, desertification and human-triggered ignition, including suspected arson.

A British retiree in Ronda, Andalusia, describes how rising anti-tourism sentiment, vandalism targeting foreigners, and increasingly extreme heat have made her once-ideal holiday home feel unsafe and undesirable. Attempts to sell the property have failed as potential buyers, particularly foreigners, are deterred by protests and local hostility toward expats, compounded by climate-driven wildfires and heatwaves. The house has depreciated significantly, and she now avoids visiting except to pack belongings. Feeling unsafe, isolated, and affected by worsening health issues, she plans to sell at a loss and relocate her holiday base to cooler, less hostile northern European cities.