On arrival you will be supplied with the basics such as milk, tea, and coffee. There is a small shop in the village where you can buy other essentials and the nearest town of Cádiar (35 minutes away by a good road and 25 minutes away by a road that is partly rough track) has several supermarkets, a fishmonger and an organic food shop. There’s one supermarket that caters specifically for English where you get crumpets, muffins and Marmite. Three bread vans pass through the village daily and on Saturdays there’s a vegetable lorry. The doctor visits twice a week and Cádiar has a 24 hour medical centre. The chemist is open twice a week and at weekends.

Cástaras is also blessed with three bars, two of which are open most of the time and both serve sandwiches and tapas. The timetable for the Pensioner’s bar is a little erratic but the drinks are subsidised.