On August 16th 2005 our plane touched down at Madeira International Airport and our new life on a volcanic rock situated in the North Atlantic began. Madeira is situated six hundred kilometres from North Africa and one thousand kilometres from mainland Portugal. It is not big, stretching to sixty kilometres if we are generous, mountainous and has a total population of around 300,000 people.

My husband, three year old daughter and I started our Madeira experience with a holiday. I remember it was not the most joyous of weeks and towards the end my husband and I both dared to articulate our thoughts, ‘What on earth had we done?’ Our three year old daughter was particularly keen to know when we would be returning ‘home’ from holiday, I was four months pregnant, sick, tired and just a little apprehensive about how this experience which was to include giving birth on the island would all work out.

Well suffice to say that four years on we are still here, my then three, now seven year old daughter refers to Madeira as ‘home’ and speaks near fluent Portuguese. My second daughter arrived safely on February 2nd 2006 and I cannot praise highly enough the medical care she and I received. We have all adjusted to island living and have developed quite an affection for this ‘rock’ in the North Atlantic.

So why choose Madeira?

Life pre Madeira was hectic, we lived in Southern England, I was just arranging a return to work and my husband was working for a North American company as its European Finance Director. This meant he travelled extensively, often long haul and after three years the travel was beginning to take its toll. As a family we missed him and so when he was approached about a position working for one of the oldest companies here on Madeira, the absence of long distance travel, Madeira’s proximity to the UK (only 4 hours by plane), the climate, the beauty of the island and the fact that it was Portuguese (we had lived in Lisbon for 3 years) meant we were interested.

An inspection visit convinced us that it had potential as a beautiful and calm place to live. There is no doubt that Madeira is a stunning island, a trip to the mountain peaks confirms that and on a clear day the rocky summits and dramatic wooded drops down to the ocean a few kilometres away can make you feel you really are on top of the world.

Paradise?

For many locals and tourists alike, well yes! It is a lovely place to live from a scenic perspective and we love the fact that for most of the year we can live out-of-doors. The temperatures do drop in winter but only so much that we need to dig out a jumper in Funchal, colder weather and even snow can be found on the mountain peaks though.

Madeira is also known for being very safe and generally has a very low crime rate. We never think twice about walking around Funchal late at night. Also for us with two children one of the lovely aspects of Madeira is the Portuguese love for children. It is never a problem to take children out to dinner as they are always treated with respect and attention, locals will often stop my children, not me! for a little chat in the streets and I find their love and fascination for children particularly heart warming.

Who relocates to live in Madeira?

A small number of expatriates move to set up and/or work in the Madeira International Business Centre. Quite a number of Portuguese from the continent come in search of a better quality of life and increasingly emigrants and in particular children of emigrants who left 40 to 50 years ago are returning with their families from Venezuela, the UK and South Africa.

Northern European retirees also make up a large proportion of the expatriates based on Madeira, they move here because of the favourable climate, beauty and safety of this island and also its proximity to their countries of origin. There is not a formalised expatriate community in the sense of expatriate clubs and people tend to meet through their general interests such as golf, language lessons, deep sea fishing, walking, word of mouth, Irish pubs, churches and schools.

There are a number of expatriate publications such as ‘The Brit’ newspaper and www.themadeiratimes.com and www.madeira-island.com a forum where people, generally expatriates, give each other handy tips and advice about island living. There is generally no expatriate enclave, people of all nationalities mix with locals and Portuguese who have moved to live here from the continent.

Relaxation?

What, relax with a seven and a three year old around! but weekends are always enjoyable, the weather is usually good enough for outside activities and with two young children we tend to swim in the sea (possible pretty much all year round) or hotel pools, enjoying the garden at home, touring the island, horse riding, taking sailing trips to see the dolphins and whales and enjoying the many restaurants that the island has to offer.

Restaurants tend to serve local specialities, good wholesome food which is well priced although not hugely imaginative. Hotels offer international restaurants with one having recently been awarded a Michelin star, the first on the island to have achieved such an accolade.

For sun, sea and sand lovers there are not many sandy beaches on Madeira, two man-made ones have been created to offer white sand rather than the natural grey volcanic variety but for a real beach holiday a trip to Porto Santo is a must. This is the second island in the Madeira Archipelago and is situated two hours away by ferry and twenty minutes away by plane. It has a nine kilometre sandy beach, warm blue waters and is a great place to go to relax and unwind with the kids.

Lifelong holiday? Sadly not for us!

We may be surrounded by tourists and retirees but that is about as close to a life of leisure that we will get for the foreseeable future. My husband works for ‘Blandy’ one of the original Madeira wine companies. I work from home offering a coaching service to expatriates especially trailing partners who require support in establishing their new lives and careers abroad. Internet and Skype mean that I can connect easily with clients all over the world.

Finding work on Madeira is possible but it is not likely to be particularly well paid, salaries are low here and as a result for most families it is necessary that both partners work full time. There are many crèches and pre-schools. Our children attend the International School and it has been excellent for my daughters aged six and two.

So is it all good?

I think because of the lack of expatriate clubs it can be a difficult place to begin with in terms of making friends and building a support network. Luckily I met parents through my children’s school and post-school activities but it took me a good year to feel I really had the beginnings of a supportive social network here.

Administrative and bureaucratic issues can sometimes be a struggle to resolve and service with a smile doesn’t always spring to mind but I can never generalise and say it is all bad because there have been people who have helped greatly. The health care system can seem a little chaotic but the medical attention once accessed is good and extremely caring.

I find that living on a small island can at times feel a little restrictive and I do have times when I really crave to ‘get off’ and hit somewhere a bit more cosmopolitan. The difficulty here though is that the only means of exit is by air or on one of the many cruise ships that visit Madeira each week.

Neither are particularly cheap options, flights to Lisbon are particularly expensive but the low cost airlines are starting to fly here and so I am planning my future ‘escapes’ with enthusiasm. My next trip is to the UK for a two week Christmas break. We love to return to the UK and share the festive season with our family and friends, however two weeks of grey skies and rock bottom temperatures mean that we are always ready to return for a bit of sun and to share in the fantastic New Year party that explodes – quite literally into the skies above Funchal at midnight on the 31st December every year – a truly awe inspiring experience.