The town of Lliber, at 274m above sealevel, sits on the "sunny side of the street" in the Vall de Pop, nestling as it does at the bottom of a run of hills. Known for its dry stone-walling, some of the buildings have the look of Cotswold stone! Lliber spans an area about 50% larger than Alcalali - at 22km² but its population is somewhat smaller at just over 1000 people. The demography is interesting; over 60% are 'foreigners' ie non-Spanish and in 2007 the majority of the outsiders split 111 Germans/341 British residents. Like Alcalali, Lliber suffered depopulation almost continuously (except in 1920 and 1940) for the 100 years between 1900-2000, after which it doubled in size between 2000-2005 and has remained almost unchanged since.

Lliber guards the look and reforms to its buildings with care and so planning permissions are difficult to receive; property supply is pretty much fixed and not growing.

The present town Mayor or Alcalde (pronounce alcaldee), the baker, will have been at the helm for 2 separate periods totalling 12 years when his place comes up for renewal in 2011. As for other work, harvesting and drying grapes for the local sweet white wine of Mistela is Lliber's principle and peaceful industry. At one and the same time the town is both traditional yet modern and green, with little noise or chemical pollution of the environment from its main business of grape-growing.

Lliber has been a town open to strangers. During the middle ages and the Renaissance periods, the town was inhabited by the Moriscos, North African Moors who had converted to Christianity, they were purged in 1609 and repopulaton was slow and people arrived from the Balearic islands - a fact borne out by surnames of many residents. The town has everything but in miniature! A tiny church of Saints Cosme and Damian, is seated halfway on a hill, atop is the cemetery which can be reached by a miniature waymarked hill of Calgary, up which Christ walked bearing his cross and upon which he was hung, replayed annually in all of Spain during the Catholic Easter ritual. Walking down from the church only a few metres, you find yourself in the centre of the town - literally - in its square. Pretty little terraced houses surround you as well as a sprinkling of bars and quiet places to sit and contemplate. And if there is one word to describe Lliber, it would be peaceful.

But don't let that fool you, Lliber has its own little festivals with pop-groups formed from sons of the town! They also have annual town festivities during the second half of August for Saint Roque, another town patron after whom the main ' high street' is named. Most of the locals speak the Valenian dialect but happily switch to speaking mainline Spanish/Castellano to anyone speaking in Spanish to them. I have not found Valenciana to be used as a mode of excluding outsiders, which one may come across in certain parts of the UK. In fact, when I speak to locals about Valenciana, they claim to speak it but cannot write it - as those still living were forbidden to learn it at school under Franco as only Castellano was taught. Valenciana is meant to be very difficult to write but seems to have much in common with French including the cidilla (the bottom of a figure 5) under some c's. Interestingly, Wikipedia states that this cedilla: ´ç´ is called a virgulilla actually from ancient Castellaño from whence it has seeped into other languages – not the reverse! It´s not found in contemporary Castellano/Spanish.

Properties here range from townhouses, which can be tardis-like in size and surprisingly large, as well as retaining many interesting features such as large open fireplaces and wonderful rooftop terraces to sit upon and enjoy the fabulous valley view. There are also the traditional Spanish country house - the fincas but Lliber, with its cautious approach to reforms and buildings has a long history of problems with legalising builds. In fact there are some notorious (foreign) builders who have built many quality homes but these lovely properties have never been given their Cedulas - the final legal document giving permission for the property to be lived-in. Many people have purchased these attractive but illegal builds and face the possibility of their properties being demolished because they are illegal. As my company uses a locally-based, city-born and trained lady solicitor for all purchases made through our company, we will advise our clients of all problems and offer suggestions as to how to overcome them or likely outcomes should you still wish to pursue a difficult or illegal build. Where all paperwork is in order for a property in Lliber, we will advise on this as with all our clients, then purchases can be just as straightforward as normal house purchases in Spain.