Before she visited Mallorca Emma Colbeck was under the impression that it was a classic Spanish holiday resort – all tower blocks, sunburned Brits, and pubs serving pints and full English breakfasts.
The reality she found was quite different – azure seas and picture perfect beaches flanked by mountains, a sophisticated capital city, and a friendly local community. “I was blown away,” she says.
When she decided to leave her life in London behind and raise her two children by the sea, the Balearic island seemed like the perfect choice.
Colbeck has exchanged trendy Walthamstow for peaceful Alaro, a town on the southern slopes of the Tramuntana Mountains and around 12 miles from the capital, Palma.
Before the pandemic Colbeck, 43, was living in a three-bedroom terrace in London with her now ex-husband and their two children, Arlo, nine, and Cleo, seven.
After training as a journalist Colbeck had sidestepped into branded content, working for a series of major national magazines and newspapers.
“I think that the idea of moving out of London was always in the background – I had done a lot of travelling in my early twenties, and I had always practiced yoga and meditation,” says Colbeck.
That idea gained traction during the pandemic, when Colbeck had plenty of time to think about what she really wanted out of life and what she could live without.
“Suddenly everything in London was shut down to us, and it broke the connection to London and even to my family,” she says.
“I realised we could survive without that, and I had always desired to live somewhere hot, by the sea.”
In October 2020 the family rented out their London house and headed to Mallorca, living in Airbnbs before settling in Alaro. Sadly Colbeck and her husband separated in 2021 — he is now based in Palma and they co-parent the children. The Walthamstow house has been sold.
Colbeck’s townhouse has four bedrooms and costs €2,300pcm. “Renting is better here than in the UK,” she says. “It is not cheap but you get much more for your money, rentals are long term because more people rent long term, and you can do what you want to the house.”
As well as changing her location Emma has changed her profession, and is now a personal development coach (nuata.studio), working with clients on the island and, via Zoom, all over the world, as well as running retreats.
The children are enrolled at an international school in Palma; both speak fluent Spanish as well as English and love the active life which Mallorca offers them.
“In the summer we spend a lot of time on the beach with friends, there are gatherings at people’s houses, and lots of little festivals and music events,” she says.
“We go to the local market in Alaro every Saturday, we always meet people there, and the children play with their friends in the square. In the winter we go hiking in the mountains, staying overnight in refuges. It is very outdoorsy and very community oriented.”
Despite its charms Colbeck is not certain she will remain in Mallorca forever — part of the reason the children go to an international school is that she wants to keep her options open, and she admits that she has not entirely let go of London.
And while Cleo barely remembers the UK Arlo remains very proud to be from the UK and often talks about going home one day.
“Sometimes I feel that there is a saturation with island life, and I like the idea of going back and forth between here and London,” says Colbeck. “I would never say never.”
