ROME – A 58-year-old Londoner who plans to retire to sunny Andalusia in southern Spain says she’ll only need €200 (£170) per week of her pension to live there.

Marie Turner, a full-time technology writer originally from Toronto who moved to the UK in 2010, bought a retirement home in 2015 in the countryside near Casares, one of Spain’s famed pueblo blancos (white-washed villages) for less than €60,000 (£52,000) including purchase fees.

Ms Turner says the UK state pension of £11,502 a year is enough to live relatively comfortably in Spain, unlike in the UK, although she says she will need to deduct 20 per cent income tax for owning her home and living there alone in retirement.

“Adding the exchange you gain from GBP to euro it gives you about 180 to 200 euro (£150-170) a week for one person with no mortgage, to buy food, petrol, and some going out and local taxes,” she tells i. “That is just enough. I have a private pension on top, so I’m more comfortable.”

She has invested in renovations to turn her Spanish abode into an exquisite home. It’s 65 square metres over three floors with a spacious roof terrace, two bedrooms and three bathrooms with beautiful views across the village rooftops, the castle and valley below.

“You would never find a home for that kind of money anywhere in Canada” – nor in the UK, she adds.

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A friend of hers just purchased a two-bedroom townhouse south of Vancouver for nearly C$1.2m (£700,000), with a “postage stamp sized garden and she still has to pay monthly estate fees and taxes that eat into her pocket”.

Ms Turner, who describes herself as “happily single”, currently comes and goes between London and Casares, with plans to retire in Spain in eight years time to enjoy the lower cost of living and higher quality of life.

On top of her UK state and private pension, she will also benefit from a Canadian one and a private fund.

Ms Turner believes many pensioners would benefit from leaving expensive countries like the UK and Canada, where low pensions don’t allow for a comfortable retirement and instead choose countries such as Spain.

“In the UK, many people don’t own a home, so a full UK pension of less than £12,000 wouldn’t cover most people’s housing and expenses” if they stayed in Britain after retiring, she notes.

She points out that there are homes on sale for less than €50,000 (£43,000) if one looks hard inland, although they may require some investment to bring them up to standard.

She says the location of her residence in Andalusia, among orange and avocado groves, further reduces food costs and gives her a fresher, seasonal diet.

“You can pick up a pretty weighty bag of ripe fruit for about €3. In season, I have fresh orange juice every morning, together with the added sunshine, I sleep better and feel healthier overall. I tend to buy fruit and veggies in season, so there’s always something affordable. In the autumn, it’s figs, melons and cherimoyas – we call them custard apples.”

A large bag of eight oranges, three lemons and a butternut squash cost less than €4 from a local farmer, while continental cheeses and meats at supermarkets are far cheaper than in the UK. A packet of sliced serrano ham is less than €2 and a fresh baguette can cost as little as 68 cents.

“Many people have fruit trees, so I often get given a bag of fresh lemons to make curd. I even have small fruit trees that produce edible fruit in season,” she adds.

In Spain, she goes out often as wine is inexpensive and plentiful and the area offers a range of dining options, from affordable inland bars with tapas for as little as €1 or €2, to more expensive fusion type cafés and restaurants on the coast.

Even with a house paid for in the UK, adds Ms Turner, “I don’t know where you can live on the UK pension only. You certainly wouldn’t be drinking Spanish sherry or wine in the sunshine in the winter.”

She spent a large amount of time in Spain before buying the house, getting to know the area and seeing that it offered exactly what she was looking for.

“I still get excited when I see the kite surfers flying the beaches of Tarifa. Being able to drive any time I feel like it to a chiringuito (beach bar) nestled amongst white sand dunes, turquoise water and just a short ferry ride to Tangier was tantalising after several decades of working in Canada with just two statutory weeks of holiday per year,” she adds.

“I always felt both sunshine- and beach-starved during long winters in Canada.”