Well... We moved from London to Cornwall 36 years ago when we had two small children. I had a teaching job in a nearby small town and our children went to the local primary school. Those were our two fast routes into making a new circle of friends. On the other hand, there are lots of stories of retirees buying up cheap homes or chalets in the south of Spain where they'd go for a few months every year (or even to live permanently) to escape the British winter. Many of them find themselves mixing with similar ageing Brit expats only and can feel lonely. There's the language barrier for many and the fact that many locals don't take kindly to incomers who are not Spanish. What's more, many of the lovely summer holiday honeypots almost completely shut down in winter. I always felt that moving to a different area to work may go down a lot better. Careful choices to be made, eh?